64B12-16.003. Apprenticeship Requirements and Training Program

(1) Any persons seeking to be registered as an apprentice optician shall submit to the Board  an Optician Apprentice Application for Registration (Form DH-MQA 1180, revised 8/2022), hereby adopted and incorporated by reference, which can be obtained from the Board’s website at http://www.floridasopticianry.gov, or at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-14817. All apprenticeship training must be conducted by the sponsor(s) with whom the apprentice is currently registered with the Agency. Credits shall be granted to apprentices if the training is properly documented according to this rule. An apprentice shall not receive credit for any training received from a person other than the properly registered sponsor(s). However, an apprentice can receive credit for attending continuing education courses by a board-approved provider pursuant to this rule.

(2) An apprentice shall have no more than two sponsors at any given time. If an apprentice has two sponsors, one sponsor shall be the primary sponsor responsible for the secondary sponsor and the apprentice. The secondary sponsor may work with the apprentice in a store or office other than the primary store or office as long as the apprentice works under the apprenticeship requirements and training program.

(3) A sponsor may provide training for no more than two apprentices at a time.

(4) An apprenticeship shall consist of 6,240 hours of training, completed within five years after the apprentice’s first registration with the Department. However, time spent in training at a board-approved school of opticianry or board-approved apprentice training program may be substituted for required apprenticeship time. Each credit hour earned at such school shall count as 86.67 apprenticeship hours. For each hour of the stated instructional time of a board-aproved apprentice training program shall count as five (5) apprenticeship hours for successfully completing the entire course.

(a) An apprentice is required to obtain two of the required hours by completing a Board-approved Apprentice/Sponsor Orientation Course and submitting the original certificate of attendance to the board office within one year of registration with the Department.

(b) Each sponsor may attend a Board-approved Apprentice/Sponsor Orientation course. This course will count toward the elective continuing education requirement pursuant to Rule 64B12-15.003, F.A.C.

(c) An apprentice can attend continuing education classes from an approved provider which will count towards the apprenticeship hours. Each credit hour of continuing education shall count as one hour of apprenticeship training. An apprentice can claim an unlimited amount of hours of continuing education credit over the entire length of the apprenticeship. Hours of continuing education credit will only be awarded upon presentation of proof of attendance to the Board.

(5) No hours of credit will be awarded to an apprentice unless those hours were worked under the supervision of the sponsor(s) or within an acceptable alternative as outlined in this rule. The sponsor(s) must be on the premises at all times that opticianry services are performed by an apprentice. The sponsor(s) must personally inspect and approve any work so produced. However, an apprentice may perform such tasks without the sponsor’s presence which may lawfully be performed by unsupervised non-licensed personnel, so long as no hours of apprenticeship credit are claimed or earned.

(6) Total training received by an apprentice during apprenticeship must consist of training in the following subject areas:

(a) Reading and interpreting prescriptions;

(b) Working with lens types, optical and geometric centers, axis, prisms, powers, different types of glass, colors (tints), curves, transposing and knowing the purpose and use of lenses and contact lenses;

(c) Working with frames and mountings and optical appurtenances, adjustments, sizes, measurements and types of temples;

(d) Fitting eyeglasses on individual customers;

(e) Attaining a working knowledge of measurements, pupillary distances, basic anatomy and physiology of the eye and attaining basic knowledge of geometric optics;

(f) Using lensometer or other similar instrument; neutralizing and identifying series of single vision and multi-focal lenses, power of lenses;

(g) Assembling eyeglasses from frames and uncut lenses;

(h) Filling contact lens prescriptions, fitting, adapting and dispensing contact lenses if the sponsor is a Board-Certified optician, Florida-licensed optometrist or Florida-licensed allopathic or osteopathic physician, or an optician pursuant to subsection 64B12-10.009(1), F.A.C., or the apprentice must complete a Board-approved training program in contact lenses course equivalent to 32 hours of instructional time as a substitute for working experience with contact lenses. The Board has approved the following areas of study for the Florida Apprentice Contact Lens Training Course:

6 hours – introduction to contact lenses, including but not limited to basic ocular anatomy, basic optics, basic lenses, fundamentals of instrumentation, nomenclature and patient instructions

2 hours – prefit and assessment

2 hours – diagnostic fit and evaluation

1 hour – lens dispensing and patient evalutation

1 hour – followup visits with the patient

1 hour – administrative procedures

3 hours – slit lamp and pathology

3 hours – Florida and Federal laws/rules related to contact lenses and dispensing

13 hours – practical hands-on training component

Lecture, self study and hands-on sessions as well as blended teaching models are considered appropriate training and may be open to any number of students provided the following can be shown to be part of the training course.

Qualified instructors:

Learning outcomes are articulated and comprehensive according to required course instruction, testing, and evaluation of student conprehension is completed after each area of study before they can proceed to the next area of study.

A qualified instructor for the training course in contact lenses is one who has been a Board-Certified optician, licensed optometrist or opthalmologist and actively engaged in contact lens fitting for 2 years immediately preceding instructorship or actively engaged as a contact lens instructor in an approved school of opticianry, an accredited school of optometry or an accredited medical school. The assistants must be Board-Certified or equally qualified to the instructor. Any request for program approval must be submitted to the Board 30 days prior to the next Board meeting and must be reviewed every two years. The apprentice must complete the entire course within 18 months of enrolling.

(i) Additional work in any of the above categories.

Rulemaking Authority 484.005, 484.007(1)(d)4. FS. Law Implemented 456.0635, 484.002, 484.007(1)(d)4. FS. History–New 10-12-80, Amended 8-31-83, 8-30-84, Formerly 21P-16.03, Amended 3-5-87, 7-15-87, 1-26-88, 3-30-89, 10-17-90, 5-27-92, 9-30-92, 1-27-93, Formerly 21P-16.003, Amended 9-14-93, 5-2-94, Formerly 61G13-16.003, Amended 2-21-96, 4-23-97, Formerly 59U-16.003, Amended 10-1-97, 2-16-99, 6-25-02, 4-11-06, 9-27-06, 4-19-07, 11-20-07, 5-25-09, 11-29-09, 5-19-10, 4-9-12, 5-22-14, 7-17-14, 12-6-16, 9-11-18, 2-28-19, 7-4-19, 7-30-20, 3-16-21, 11-15-22.