NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR REGULATION 35/21

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
REGULATION 35/21

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Drug Regulations, 2012 (Amendment)
under the
Optometry Act, 2012

(Filed June 30, 2021)

Under the authority of section 57 of the Optometry Act, 2012, the Council of the Newfoundland and Labrador College of Optometrists, with the approval of the Minister of Health and Community Services, makes the following regulations.

Dated at St. John’s, June 30, 2021.

Dr. Clare Halleran
Chairperson
Council of the Newfoundland and Labrador College of Optometrists

Dr. John Haggie
Minister of Health and Community Services

REGULATIONS

Analysis

NLR 90/12

1. (1) Paragraph 3(1)(a) of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Drug Regulations, 2012 is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) graduated on or after January 1, 1995 from an educational body approved by the council, and has successfully completed the pharmaceutical section of the Optometric Assessment Examinations administered by the Canadian Examiners in Optometry; or

(2) Subsection 3(3) of the regulations is amended by deleting the word "and" at the end of paragraph (e), by deleting the period at the end of paragraph (f) and substituting a semi-colon and by adding immediately after paragraph (f) the following:

(g) topical ocular corticosteroids; and

(h) topical ocular anti-infective corticosteroid combinations.

(3) Subsection 3(4) of the regulations is repealed.

2. The regulations are amended by adding immediately after section 3 the following:

Advanced diagnostic and therapeutic drug certificate

3.1 (1) The council may issue an advanced diagnostic and therapeutic drug certificate to an optometrist who

(a) graduated on or after January 1, 2015 from an educational body approved by the council and has successfully completed the entry to practice examinations approved by the council; or

(b) graduated prior to January 1, 2015 from an educational body approved by the council and has successfully completed an advanced scope certificate course approved by the council.

(2) An optometrist who holds an advanced diagnostic and therapeutic drug certificate may

(a) diagnose, treat and manage glaucoma in accordance with standards set by the council; and

(b) administer and prescribe pharmaceutical agents listed in Schedules I and II of the Newfoundland and Labrador Drug Schedules, as adopted by the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board under the Pharmacy Regulations, 2014, to treat and manage ocular disease, except for narcotics and other controlled pharmaceutical agents.

3. Section 4 of the regulations is repealed and the following substituted:

Foreign bodies

4. An optometrist may remove superficial foreign bodies from the human eye and surrounding tissue by performing surgical procedures on body tissue

(a) below the dermis or mucous membrane; or

(b) in or below the surface of the cornea.

4. Section 5 of the regulations is repealed and the following substituted:

Suspension or revocation

5. The council may suspend or revoke a diagnostic drug certificate, a therapeutic drug certificate or an advanced diagnostic and therapeutic drug certificate where the member fails to maintain standards set by the council.

5. (1) Subsection 6(1) of the regulations is repealed and the following substituted:

Disciplinary action

6. (1) Where an optometrist

(a) prescribes or administers pharmaceutical agents without the appropriate certificate;

(b) prescribes or administers pharmaceutical agents not authorized by the certificate he or she holds; or

that action shall be considered conduct deserving of sanction for the purposes of Part IV of the Optometry Act, 2012.

(2) Subsection 6(2) of the regulations is repealed.