§ 90-118. Examination and licensing of applicants; qualifications; causes for refusal to grant license; void licenses; educational requirements for prescription and use of pharmaceutical agents.
§ 90‑118. Examination and licensing of applicants; qualifications; causes for refusal togrant license; void licenses; educational requirements for prescription and useof pharmaceutical agents.
(a) The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometryshall grant licenses to practice optometry to such applicants who are graduatesof an accredited optometric institution, who, in the opinion of a majority ofthe Board, shall undergo a satisfactory examination of proficiency in theknowledge and practice of optometry, subject, however, to the furtherprovisions of this section and to the provisions of this Article.
(b) The applicant shall be of good moral character and at least18 years of age at the time the application for examination is filed. The applicationshall be made to the said Board in writing and shall be accompanied by evidencesatisfactory to said Board that the applicant is a person of good moralcharacter; has an academic education, the standard of which shall be determinedby the said Board; and that he is a graduate of and has a diploma from anaccredited optometric college or the optometric department of an accrediteduniversity or college recognized and approved as such by the said Board.
(c) The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry isauthorized to conduct both written or oral and clinical examinations of suchcharacter as to thoroughly test the qualifications of the applicant, and mayrefuse to grant a license to any person who, in its discretion, is founddeficient in said examination, or to any person guilty of cheating, deception,or fraud during such examination, or whose examination discloses, to thesatisfaction of the Board, a deficiency in academic education. The Board mayemploy such optometrists found qualified therefor by the Board in examiningapplicants for licenses as it deems appropriate.
(d) Any license obtained through fraud or by any falserepresentation shall be void ab initio and of no effect.
(e) The Board shall not license any person to practice optometryin the State of North Carolina beyond the scope of the person's educationaltraining as determined by the Board. No optometrist presently licensed in thisState shall prescribe and use pharmaceutical agents in the practice ofoptometry unless and until he (i) has submitted to the Board evidence ofsatisfactory completion of all educational requirements established by theBoard to prescribe and use pharmaceutical agents in the practice of optometryand (ii) has been certified by the Board as educationally qualified toprescribe and use pharmaceutical agents.
Provided, however, that no course or courses in pharmacology shall beapproved by the Board unless (i) taught by an institution having facilities forboth the didactic and clinical instruction in pharmacology and which isaccredited by a regional or professional accrediting organization that isrecognized and approved by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation or theUnited States Office of Education and (ii) transcript credit for the course or coursesis certified to the Board by the institution as being equivalent in both hoursand content to those courses in pharmacology required by the other licensingboards in this Chapter whose licensees or registrants are permitted the use ofpharmaceutical agents in the course of their professional practice. (1909, c. 444, s. 5; 1915, c. 21, ss. 2, 3, 4; C.S.,s. 6691; 1923, c. 42, ss. 2, 3; 1935, c. 63; 1949, c. 357; 1959, c. 464; 1973,c. 800, s. 7; 1975, c. 19, s. 23; 1977, c. 482, s. 2; 1981, c. 496, ss. 4, 5;1997‑75, s. 4.1.)