Student Registration

Student Registration – PDF

POLICY: The purpose of this policy is to protect the public and ensure that Licensed Opticians and Contact Lens Licensed Opticians, who provide onsite clinical education to students, receive adequate support.  All individuals who:

• are planning to enroll for the first time in an accredited opticianry program which includes eye glasses, contact lenses, refracting, and auto refracting are required to meet the requirements for Registration as an active student with the Opticians of Manitoba (OOM).

• have completed the first session of an accredited opticianry program and are planning to enroll in a subsequent session, are required to reapply for active student registration and meet the requirements for Registration as an active student with the OOM

• are required to complete a period of supervised practice as part of a bridging or remedial program are required to meet the requirements for Registration as an active student with the OOM

• are Licensed Opticians who are also enrolled as a student contact lens optician, must also apply for student registration, and pay the student registration fee.

APPLICANTS APPLYING FOR STUDENT REGISTRATION FOR THE FIRST TIME  

Individuals who are applying for student registration in Manitoba for the first time are required to submit:

• a completed student registration form Appendices A (Eyeglasses) & B (Contact Lenses)
• a completed supervisor’s agreement form (Appendix C)

NOTE: A student supervisor may supervise two eyeglasses students but only one contact lens student at a time.

• the student registration fee
• the original version of a criminal record search report which includes a vulnerable sector search, completed within the previous three years
• one passport size photo with the verification stamp and signature on the back
• documentation as proof that the student is enrolled in an accredited opticianry program once they have received it from the Opticians Association of Canada.

(A list of accredited Opticianry Programs can be found at https://accreditation.ca/assessment-programs/health-education-accreditation/programs/)

Last updated 04-2024.

Most students in Manitoba complete The NAIT Optical Sciences Programs through The Opticians Association of Canada. OAC requires that all applicants for the NAIT Optical Sciences Program provide proof that they are registered with the OOM in the active student category before they will be permitted to begin the course. Please submit your OAC/NAIT Application and your Student Registration with OOM at the same time. Both offices communicate with one another and will conform your enrollment.

 Applicants must:

1. Submit their OOM student registration application and payment no later than two weeks prior to the commencement of the course, by mail or in person to the Registrar, Opticians of Manitoba, Unit 215-1080 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, MB R3G 3M3. They are not to be sent to the Opticians Association of Canada (OAC) with their NAIT Optical Sciences Program application package as we are two separate entities. The Opticians of Manitoba will advise the OAC that a student has applied for registration with the OOM.

2. Submit the Optical Sciences Program application to within two weeks of applying for student registration in Manitoba.

If applying for the NAIT Program he OAC will contact the Opticians of Manitoba to confirm that the student has applied for student registration . The OOM will not process and approve an application for student registration and send the student registration card to the applicant until they have been notified by the OAC that the student has applied for acceptance into the NAIT Optical Sciences Program.

Please note: The above timelines DO NOT outline application deadlines of the NAIT Programs. You are required to ensure that your application to NAIT is submitted on or before the required application deadline as outlined in the application package sent to you by the Opticians Association of Canada (OAC).

3. Once the Opticians of Manitoba approves the application for student registration they will advise the OAC who will then approve the student’s application into the NAIT Optical Sciences Program.

RENEWAL OF STUDENT REGISTRATION  

Student registrations must be renewed if a student is planning to enroll in a second or subsequent session of an accredited opticianry program, no later than two weeks prior to the commencement of the course.

EXPIRATION OF STUDENT REGISTRATION

Student registration will expire one month following the official completion date of the program in order to allow students time they may need to complete their required hours of practice.

Students who do not renew their student registration when it expires will receive a Notice of Default from the OOM and their name will be placed in the inactive category of the OOM student register one month after the date of the notice unless their student registration is renewed. The student’s employer/supervisor will also be notified that the student’s name has been removed from the active student register, one month from the date of the Notice of Default, unless the registration is renewed.

If a student’s registration has been placed in the inactive student category of the OOM register, it is illegal for the student to practise as a student optician in Manitoba, even under supervision. An inactive student who continues to practice while his or her student registration is inactive may be prosecuted and fined.

STUDENT BENEFITS

All students registered with the OOM are entitled to receive all member benefits including OOM newsletters, new releases, invitations to social events, the annual meeting and Maintenance of Competency events and any other functions the OOM may provide, as well as access to the members’ section of the OOM website.

Students registered with the OOM do not have voting privileges at the annual meeting however or rights to hold a position on the OOM council unless they are already licensed as an active Licensed Optician, but they may sit on a committee of the Council.

SCOPE OF PRACTICE

Students in good standing and with active student registration with the OOM in eyeglasses or contact lenses are permitted to perform all aspects of the Reserved Acts[1] of dispensing eyewear under the direct[2] supervision of a Licensed Optician or Contact Lens Licensed Optician. The tasks in dispensing eyewear are not simply delegated to students.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF STUDENTS

Students must comply with all of the Acts, Bylaws, Policies and Procedures and Practice Directions governing the profession of opticianry in Manitoba.

Unregistered students are also subject to the delegation polices of the OOM.

To avoid confusion or misrepresentation, students must wear their active registration card so that it can be easily seen by the public when working in any dispensary in Manitoba and by examination supervisors when attending any exam. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disciplinary action or the refusal of admittance to an examination room.

COMPLAINTS

Complaints received regarding the conduct or actions of students who are registered with the OOM will be addressed in keeping with the requirements of the OOM Complaints Resolution Policy.(See OOM Complaints Resolution Policy at www.opticiansofmanitoba.ca ) Depending upon the nature of the complaint, complaints regarding the actions of students could result in an investigation of the Supervising Optician.

NATIONAL EXAMINATION

• Graduates of an accredited optical sciences program are eligible to sit the NACOR National Optical Sciences examination and are allowed up to three years to sit the exam.
• Individuals who have graduated from an accredited program but have not attempted to sit the national exam within 3 years following their graduation will be required to take a future course of training approved by the OOM council and upon successful completion will again be given permission from the council to sit the national licensing exam.
• Individuals who have successfully completed a required bridging program and submitted proof of successful completion of the bridging program to the Registrar will have 3 years to successfully challenge the National Optical Sciences examination.
• Individuals who have successfully completed a required bridging program but fail however to challenge the National Optical Sciences examination within the 3 years, will be required to successfully complete the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) process to determine their eligibility to sit the exam.
• If an individual fails the national examination on the second attempt, they must wait one year before they can resit the examination
• If an individual fails the national examination three times ,they will be are required to submit a remedial plan to be approved by the Council of the Opticians of Manitoba prior to sitting the examination a fourth

 REFERENCES:

• Opticians Act – Province of Manitoba opticiansofmanitoba.ca
• Bylaws -Opticians of Manitoba opticiansofmanitoba.ca
• Policies And Procedures – Opticians of Manitoba opticiansofmanitoba.ca
• Practice Directions and Guidelines – Opticians of Manitoba opticiansofmanitoba.ca

[1] Reserved Acts  The Province of Manitoba Opticians Act includes the following done to an individual in the course of providing optician services as acts which may be done by a Licensed optician

• Preparing and dispensing lenses, including contact lenses, spectacles, eyeglasses and appurtenances to the intended wearers, on the written prescriptions of duly qualified medical practitioners or holders of certificates of registration under The Optometry Act.
• In accordance with such prescriptions, interpreting, measuring, adapting, fitting and adjusting lenses, including contact lenses, spectacles, eye glasses and appurtenances to the human face for the aid of vision or the correction of visual or ocular anomalies of human eyes.

[2] Direct Supervision – means supervision must be onsite