What’s the North Star for developing the NBEO licensure test? Fairness. Molly McGinty-Tauren, O.D. is here to help ensure that. She’s a VA optometrist in Battle Creek, Michigan, who serves as a “subject matter expert” or SME on a committee that evaluates and edits NBEO test questions before they make it to an exam. Her committee colleagues are practicing optometrists who bring their daily professional experience to the process to evaluate and edit questions to make sure candidates are ready to begin treating patients. At the same time, she said, they’re not out to “trick” test-takers, as some might wonder. Rather, the questions present real-world scenarios that a starting optometrist would need to recognize and address. For each test item, she said, the discussion starts with a question: ‘Is this question fair?’

On a national level, she added, the test protects all patients by ensuring uniform competency. Given that standards can vary widely from state to state, the NBEO exam sets a national standard. “It would be such a tremendous disservice to patients if you didn’t have these exams set in place, and I think it’s really important for optometry to follow the medical model,” as NBEO does.

“Our counterparts in dentistry, medicine, they’re all going through a similar process.” And the NBEO exams, she reminds us, “are not built by an office. They’re developed by a broad community of people practicing the craft. It’s really important to clear people into the profession to safely take care of their patients.”