TEMPORARY, LIMITED, AND SUPERVISED PRACTICE OF OPTOMETRY.An optometrist wishing to practice optometry in North Carolina prior to taking and passing the Board’s clinical/practicum examination and who has never been licensed previously by the Board must obtain a provisional license. An applicant for a provisional license must hold a doctor of optometry degree from a school or college of optometry accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE). Such an applicant will be referred to as an “academically qualified optometrist.” Once granted a provisional license, the optometrist is considered to be an “intern” and should be introduced to patients as an “optometrist or doctor of optometry awaiting licensure.”
