The Indiana University School of Optometry is a member of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry and is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association, the official optometric agency recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation, and by the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry.
Optometry students and graduates are eligible to take the annual examinations of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.
We expect that admitted students will be able to meet all of the functional standards for optometric education established by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. These standards require that students possess appropriate abilities in the following areas.
The student must be able to acquire a defined level of knowledge as presented through lectures, laboratories, patient interaction, and self-study. Acquiring this body of information necessitates the functional use of visual, auditory, and somatic sensation enhanced by the use of other sensory modalities. Examples of these observational skills in which accurate information needs to be extracted in an efficient manner include:
Students must be able to communicate effectively, efficiently, and sensitively with patients and their families, peers, staff, clinic faculty, and other members of the health care team. The student must be able to demonstrate established communication skills using traditional and alternative means. Examples of required communications skills include:
Students must possess the sensory and motor skills necessary to perform an eye examination, including emergency care. In general, this requires sufficient exteroception sense (touch, pain, temperature), proprioceptive sense (position, pressure, movement, stereognosis, and vibratory), and fine motor function (significant coordination and manual dexterity using arms, wrists, hands, and fingers). Examples of skills required include:
Problem solving, a most critical skill, is essential for optometric students and must be performed quickly, especially in emergency situations. In order to be an effective problem solver, the student must be able to accurately and efficiently use such abilities as measurement, calculation, and reasoning; analysis; judgment; investigation; memory; numerical reasoning; and synthesis. Examples of these abilities include being able to:
The student must possess the necessary behavioral and social attributes for the study and practice of optometry. Examples of such attributes include:
