Supervision Requirements
Opticians may be asked to supervise students or other opticians. They must consent to being a supervisor, and their responsibilities are outlined in the Standards of Practice. Of note:
- Students enrolled in an accredited opticianry program must be supervised.
- It is the responsibility of provisional opticians or those opticians who have supervision conditions or requirements to ensure they are appropriately supervised accordingly.
- Employers must verify the optician’s practice permit to determine any supervision requirements or conditions.
- The COA Standards of practice outline the supervision requirements for opticians who provide supervision
- An optician may supervise a student enrolled in an optician training program, a provisional optician, an optician subject to a condition of supervision, or an optician registered on the courtesy register (if supervision is required) if the optician is authorized to perform the restricted activity being supervised.
- An optician who consents to serve as a supervisor in accordance with this standard must be:
- Present in the room and available to assist the student or optician being supervised, or
- On-site and available for consultation if the optician is of the opinion that the student or optician being supervised is able to safely and competently perform the restricted activity being performed.
- An optician who consents to serve as a supervisor must also:
- Ensure the student or optician being supervised is familiar with, and practices in accordance with, the Standards.
- It is important to note that an optician acting as the supervisor of a student, provisional optician, provisional contact lens practitioner, or another optician or contact lens practitioner takes responsibility for all duties performed by that student or practitioner being supervised and is required to train them to the best of their ability.
- Anyone who has conditions on their permit that require supervision is responsible for ensuring appropriate supervision is in place.