Scope of Practice, Definitions, and Authorized Activities
Domain 2 tests the boundary between what an Ohio optometrist may lawfully do and what must be referred or left to another profession. Items ask you to classify an activity as in scope, outside scope, or permitted only with referral and co-management.
The statutory definition
Ohio defines optometry as examining the human eye and its appendages, measuring the powers of vision, adapting lenses and other optical devices, and diagnosing and treating conditions within limits set by statute and Board rule. Scope questions start from that definition and then subtract the express exclusions.
Authorized activities
- Refraction and prescribing spectacles and contact lenses.
- Diagnosing and managing ocular and adnexal disease, including prescribing topical and oral pharmaceutical agents for ocular conditions within the statutory authority.
- Ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests appropriate to the condition.
- Fitting, adjusting, and dispensing optical devices.
- Co-managing care with ophthalmology and other physicians.
Limits
- Surgical and laser procedures are outside optometric scope; the optometrist recognizes the problem, treats within scope, and refers.
- A licensee may not practice beyond competence or statutory authority even if a colleague does.
- Conditions requiring surgery or systemic workup demand prompt referral and documented communication.
Worked example
A patient presents with a painful red eye, a fixed mid-dilated pupil, and a cloudy cornea. The optometrist may measure pressure, start pressure-lowering medication, arrange urgent ophthalmologic care, and document the plan. She may not perform a laser iridotomy. The answer combining immediate referral with appropriate medical management is correct; "treat and recheck in a week" is wrong because it ignores the emergent surgical component.
Traps
- Equating therapeutic privileges with unlimited prescribing authority.
- Forgetting that referral is itself a scope obligation.
- Assuming any activity the licensee has seen performed is authorized.