Scope of Practice and Delegation
Scope and delegation questions ask two things: is this act within the optometric scope, and if so, who may perform it under whose supervision.
The statutory scope
Indiana optometrists examine, diagnose, treat, and manage disorders of the eye, adnexa, and visual system. Within that scope an OD prescribes spectacles, contact lenses, low-vision devices, and therapeutic medications, topical and oral, for ocular conditions, subject to limits set by statute and Board rule.
What sits outside
Surgical and laser procedures fall outside optometric practice in Indiana unless a specific statute authorizes them; do not import another state's expansion. Invasive procedures and injections are not authorized without an express statutory grant.
Delegation
Delegation is a supervision question, not a task list. The OD may delegate data gathering and ancillary testing to trained personnel: visual acuity, tonometry, autorefraction, photography, visual fields. Diagnosis, interpretation of results, prescribing, and release of a prescription are nondelegable. The supervising OD answers for the assistant's acts, must verify training and competence, and must be available.
Worked example
An assistant performs non-contact tonometry and a visual field; the OD reviews the printouts, examines the disc, and makes the diagnosis. That is proper delegation. If the assistant instead tells the patient 'your pressure is high, you have glaucoma, come back in six months,' the assistant has taken on diagnosis and the OD owns the resulting problem.
Traps
'She is certified, so she can do it' is not a legal answer; certification is not a scope grant. Assuming a co-management agreement transfers responsibility to the other doctor. Assuming a standing order can delegate diagnosis or prescribing. Assuming an unlicensed assistant may do anything the OD does not want to do personally.