BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to the use of examinations in the credentialing of health professionals; and amending RCW 18.92.030, 18.92.100, 18.54.070, 18.53.060, and 18.25.030.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 18.92.030 and 1993 c 78 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

The board shall ((~~prepare examination questions, conduct examinations, and grade the answers of applicants~~)) develop and administer, or approve, or both, a licensure examination in the subjects determined by the board to be essential to the practice of veterinary medicine. The board, under chapter 34.05 RCW, may adopt rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter, including the performance of the duties and responsibilities of animal technicians and veterinary medication clerks. The rules shall be adopted in the interest of good veterinary health care delivery to the consuming public and shall not prevent animal technicians from inoculating an animal. The board also has the power to adopt by rule standards prescribing requirements for veterinary medical facilities and fixing minimum standards of continuing veterinary medical education.

The department is the official office of record.

Sec. 2. RCW 18.92.100 and 1991 c 3 s 243 are each amended to read as follows:

Examinations for license to practice veterinary medicine, surgery and dentistry shall be held at least once each year at such times and places as the secretary may authorize and direct. ((~~Said~~)) The examination((~~, which shall be conducted in the English language~~)) shall be((~~, in whole or in part, in writing~~)) on ((~~the following~~)) subjects((: Veterinary anatomy, surgery, obstetrics, pathology, chemistry, hygiene, veterinary diagnosis, materia medica, therapeutics, parasitology, physiology, sanitary medicine, and such other subjects which)) that are ordinarily included in the curricula of veterinary colleges((~~, as the board may prescribe~~)). All examinees shall be tested by written examination, supplemented by such oral interviews and practical demonstrations as the board deems necessary. ((~~The board may accept the examinee's results on the National Board of Veterinary Examiners in lieu of the written portion of the state examination.~~))

Sec. 3. RCW 18.54.070 and 1991 c 3 s 140 are each amended to read as follows:

The board has the following powers and duties:

(1) ((The board shall prepare the necessary lists of examination questions, conduct examinations, either written or oral or partly written and partly oral, and shall certify to the secretary of health all lists, signed by all members conducting the examination, of all applicants for licenses who have successfully passed the examination and a separate list of all applicants for licenses who have failed to pass the examination, together with a copy of all examination questions used, and the written answers to questions on written examinations submitted by each of the applicants)) To develop and administer, or approve, or both, a licensure examination in the subjects determined by the board to be essential to the practice of optometry.

(2) The board shall adopt rules and regulations to promote safety, protection and the welfare of the public, to carry out the purposes of this chapter, to aid the board in the performance of its powers and duties, and to govern the practice of optometry.

Sec. 4. RCW 18.53.060 and 1991 c 3 s 135 are each amended to read as follows:

From and after January 1, 1940, in order to be eligible for examination for registration, a person shall be a citizen of the United States of America, who shall have a preliminary education of or equal to four years in a state accredited high school and has completed a full attendance course in a regularly chartered school of optometry maintaining a standard which is deemed sufficient and satisfactory by the optometry board, who is a person of good moral character, who is not afflicted with any contagious or infectious disease, who has a visual acuity in at least one eye, of a standard known as 20/40 under correction: PROVIDED, That from and after January 1, 1975, in order to be eligible for examination for a license, a person shall have the following qualifications:

(1) Be a graduate of a state accredited high school or its equivalent;

(2) Have a diploma or other certificate of completion from an accredited college of optometry or school of optometry, maintaining a standard which is deemed sufficient and satisfactory by the optometry board, conferring its degree of doctor of optometry or its equivalent, maintaining a course of four scholastic years in addition to preprofessional college level studies, and teaching substantially all of the following subjects: General anatomy, anatomy of the eyes, physiology, physics, chemistry, pharmacology, biology, bacteriology, general pathology, ocular pathology, ocular neurology, ocular myology, psychology, physiological optics, optometrical mechanics, clinical optometry, visual field charting and orthoptics, general laws of optics and refraction and use of the ophthalmoscope, retinoscope and other clinical instruments necessary in the practice of optometry;

(3) Be of good moral character; and

(4) Have no contagious or infectious disease.

Such person shall file an application for an examination and license with said board at any time thirty days prior to the time fixed for such examination, or at a later date if approved by the board, and such application must be on forms approved by the board, and properly attested, and if found to be in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall entitle the applicant upon payment of the proper fee, to take the examination prescribed by the board. Such examination shall not be out of keeping with the established teachings and adopted textbooks of the recognized schools of optometry, and shall be confined to such subjects and practices as are recognized as essential to the practice of optometry. All candidates without discrimination, who shall successfully pass the prescribed examination, shall be registered by the board and shall, upon payment of the proper fee, be issued a license. ((The optometry board, at its discretion, may waive all or a portion of the written examination for any applicant who has satisfactorily passed the examination given by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.)) Any license to practice optometry in this state issued by the secretary, and which shall be in full force and effect at the time of passage of this 1975 amendatory act, shall be continued.

Sec. 5. RCW 18.25.030 and 1989 c 258 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

Examinations for license to practice chiropractic shall be ((~~made~~)) developed and administered, or approved, or both by the board of chiropractic examiners according to the method deemed by it to be the most practicable and expeditious to test the applicant's qualifications. Such application shall be designated by a number instead of his or her name, so that the identity shall not be discovered or disclosed to the members of the examining committee until after the examination papers are graded.

All examinations shall be in whole or in part in writing, the subject of which shall be as follows: Anatomy, physiology, spinal anatomy, microbiology-public health, general diagnosis, neuromuscularskeletal diagnosis, x-ray, principles of chiropractic and adjusting, as taught by chiropractic schools and colleges. The board ((~~shall~~)) may administer a practical examination to applicants which shall consist of diagnosis, principles and practice, x-ray, and adjustive technique consistent with chapter 18.25 RCW. ((~~A license shall be granted to all applicants whose score over each subject tested is seventy-five percent.~~)) The board shall set the standards for passing the examination. The board may enact additional requirements for testing administered by the national board of chiropractic examiners.