Predictors of Nurses’ Practice of Eye Care for Patients in Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Introduction Taking care of patients’ eyes is an important nursing skill. Nurses must be capable of providing a standard assessment of the eye and vision as well as necessary care such as eye cleaning. Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses typically focus on life-threatening issues while giving little attention to other serious issues. The purpose of this study was to assess predictors of nurses’ practice of eye care for patients in ICUs in the West Bank. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted with all ICU nurses from West Bank hospitals. The researchers developed a self-administered questionnaire to collect data. Results One hundred and fifty-two nurses participated in this study. The findings revealed that the mean age of nurses was 31.2 ( SD = 7.5) years. The analysis revealed that only 0.7% had a good knowledge level, 7.2% had a fair knowledge level, and 25.7% had a good practice level of eye care for patients in an ICU. Knowledge of patients’ eye care in the ICU, as well as an eye care protocol or policy for unconscious patients, was found to be significant predictors of practice ( p < .001). Conclusion The study confirmed that the nurses had poor knowledge and inadequate practice of eye care for patients in the ICU. Also, the study confirmed that a nurse's knowledge of patients’ eye care in the ICU and an eye care protocol or policy for unconscious patients were significant predictors of practice.

Effect of Eye Care Clinical Guidelines Training on Critical Care Nurses’ Competency and Eye Complications among Critically Ill Patients

“…Additionally, incompetent eye care nurses' practice is consistent with Vyas (2018) and Khalil (2019) who reported that nurses showed no appropriate practice pattern, and they recommended conducting a training program to improve nurses' EC practice (Khalil, 2019; Sonal Vyas, Ashish Mahobia, 2018). In the same line, Lami, and Ayed (2023) found that nurses had inadequate practice of eye care. Besides, Sayed (2022) reported that only around ten percent of the nurses attained a satisfactory level of eye care practice.…”

“…Assessment of eyelid closure must be done at the onset of the patient's admission, immediately after stabilization of the vital body functions, and then regularly throughout the patient's stay in the CCU. There is a strong correlation between incomplete eye closure (lagophthalmos) and the development of eye complications, which can then lead to dry eye and corneal ulceration (Abd-Elftah et al, 2023; Lami & Ayed, 2023;Puspasari, 2019). Nurses' competency is a vital requirement to prevent eye complications among the critically ill population.…”

Prevention of Corneal Injury in Critically Ill Sedated and Mechanically Ventilated Patients: Theoretical and Evidence-Based Practice

“…However, evidence-based practices are still incipient [2,[13][14][15]. Developing and implementing continuing education programs for promoting eye care knowledge, attitude, and practice are strongly recommended [2,16,17].…”

“…As a recommendation, we suggest that nurses develop an eye care protocol, including eye gel lubrication, for 4 or 6 hours, and a polyethylene chamber, for 12 hours, for sedated mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. In addition, a polyethylene chamber must be commercially available to prevent the event [3,17].…”

“…Educational initiatives should focus on knowledge to improve eye care of patients in ICU18 [39,40,47],. Training nurses based on updated clinical guidelines and eye care protocols can improve the knowledge, attitude, and practice of ICU nurses [2,16,17].…”