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    • General Information
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  • Certification Levels
    • Certified Paraoptometric (CPO)
      • Study Outline
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    • Certified Paraoptometric Assistant (CPOA)
      • Study Outline
      • CPOA Handbook for Candidates - PDF
      • CPOA Sample Test Questions
      • Request for Special Needs Accomodations (.pdf)
    • Certified Paraoptometric Technician (CPOT)
      • Study Outline
      • CPOT Written Handbook for Candidates - PDF
      • CPOT Practical Handbook for Candidates - PDF
      • CPOT Sample Test Questions
      • Request for Special Needs Accomodations (.pdf)
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    • Home Study Education Modules
      • The ABCs of Optical Dispensing Module
      • Soft Contact Lens Wear & Care Module
      • Practice Management 101 Module
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      • Fitting Toric Soft Contact Lenses
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  • Practice Efficiencies Survey

Study Outline

I.  Office Operations (13%)
A.  Practice Management
B.  Records Management

1. filing
2. confidentiality/safeguards
3. ownership/release
4. legal/ethical Issues

1. scheduling
2. emergencies/urgencies
3. triage
4. message taking
5. handling complaints

1. accounts receivable/payable
2. banking procedures
3. billing
4. insurance

1. scope of roles and functions
2. liability and malpractice
3. conduct, confidentiality, ethics
4. hygiene and infection control

II. Ophthalmic Optics and Dispensing (20%)
A.  Prescriptions

1. components
   1. sphere, cylinder, axis
   2. add power
   3. prism
   4. measurements
2. optical crosses
3. transposition
4. decentration calculations
5. vertex and effective power
6. verification
   1. instruments
   2. Prentice’s prism formula
   3. optics

1. lens forms
2. lens types
3. lens styles
4. powers/focal length
5. lens materials
6. index of refraction
7. impact resistance
8. FDA/ANSI standards
9. special prescription considerations
   1. high powers
   2. Fresnel prisms
   3. industrial/occupational
10. tints and coatings

1. types of frames
2. parts of frames

1. alignment
2. procedures
3. tools
4. techniques
5. pliers
6. pads
7. repair

III. Testing and Procedures (20%)
A.  Purpose and Preliminary Testing

1. visual skills
2. interpupillary distance
3. near point of convergence
4. near point of accommodation
5. cover testing
6. fusion/suppression
7. Worth four dot
8. Maddox Rod

1. procedures
2. monocular and binocular
3. pinhole acuity
4. measurement systems/charts
5. recording results

1. procedures and recording
2. types of tests

1. purpose of test
2. types of tests
3. procedures

1. retinoscope
2. ophthalmoscope
3. biomicroscope/slit lamp
4. phoropter
5. keratometer
6. photography
7. optical coherence tomography
8. other

IV. Special Procedures (17%)
A.  Contact Lenses

1. terminology
2. materials
3. soft and gp comparison
s
4. care and handling
patient instruction
5. verification/measurements
6. special lens designs and uses

1. instrumentation/types
2. procedures/causes

1. instrumentation/types
2. procedures/measurements
3. defects
4. physiologic blind spot
5. recording

1. instrumentation/terminology
2. procedures
3. recordings
4. readings

V.  Refractive Status of the Eye and Binocularity (13%)
A.  Refractive Errors

1. Types
   1. myopia
   2. hyperopia
   3. astigmatism
2. presbyopia
3. causes
4. corrective lenses
5. photophobia

1. types
   1. aphakia
   2. anisometropia
   3. aniseidonia
   4. amblyopia
2. causes

1. versions, ductions, rotations, pursuits and saccades
2. convergence and divergence
3. binocular vision
4. accommodative mechanism
5. stereopsis

VI. Basic Ocular Anatomy and Physiology (17%)
A.  General Anatomy and Physiology

1. fibrous, vascular, and neural tunic
2. anterior adnexa
3. orbit
4. bones
5. anterior segment
6. posterior segment
7. crystalline lens
8. aqueous/vitreous
9. retina
10. extra ocular muscles
11. visual pathway
12. cornea

1. lacrimal system
2. anterior chamber
3. anterior angle
4. posterior chamber

1. lids
2. conjunctivitis
3. glaucoma
4. cataracts
5. corneal problems
6. retinal disorders
7. legal blindness
8. macular degeneration

1. types
   1. mydriatics
   2. miotics
   3. cycloplegics
   4. anesthetics
2. instillation/instruction
   1. solutions
   2. ointment