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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 18. Professional And Occupational Licensing
Agency 105. Board of Optometry
Chapter 20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Optometry
12/22/2024

18VAC105-20-5. Definitions.

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Acute pain" means pain that occurs within the normal course of a disease or condition for which controlled substances may be prescribed for no more than three months.

"Active clinical practice" means an average of 20 hours per week or 640 hours per year of providing patient care.

"Adnexa" is defined as the conjoined, subordinate, or immediately associated anatomic parts of the human eye, including eyelids and eyebrows.

"Board" means the Virginia Board of Optometry.

"Chronic pain" means nonmalignant pain that goes beyond the normal course of a disease or condition for which controlled substances may be prescribed for a period greater than three months.

"Controlled substance" means drugs listed in the Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) in Schedules II through V.

"MME" means morphine milligram equivalent.

"NBEO" means the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.

"Prescription Monitoring Program" means the electronic system within the Department of Health Professions that monitors the dispensing of certain controlled substances.

"TMOD" means the treatment and management of ocular disease portion of the NBEO examination.

"TPA" means therapeutic pharmaceutical agents.

"TPA certification" means authorization by the Virginia Board of Optometry for an optometrist to treat diseases and abnormal conditions of the human eye and its adnexa and to prescribe and administer certain therapeutic pharmaceutical agents.

Statutory Authority

§§ 54.1-2400 and 54.1-3223 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 22, Issue 4, eff. November 30, 2005; amended, Virginia Register Volume 22, Issue 20, eff. July 12, 2006; Volume 36, Issue 4, eff. November 13, 2019; Volume 36, Issue 6, eff. December 11, 2019.

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