Dr.Darshana Ravikumar

Dr.Divya Sundaresh , Dr.Soumya Ramani, Dr.Ramya DM

Abstract

A prospective cross-sectional study conducted in 2022 aimed to assess the eye care knowledge, attitude, and practices among Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses. Of the 196 nurses who participated, the initial assessment showed that 70% were unaware of dry eye assessment, 55% were unaware of preventive measures on exposure-keratopathy, 79% were ignorant of eyelid taping, and 59% felt eye care was not an important job. There were lecture-based training sessions on the eye-care protocol following the initial assessment. Post-training assessment was conducted after 2 weeks. Among the 141 nurses who participated, 96% of participants could then assess dry eye, 72% knew about adequate lid closure, 92% could explain eyelid taping and 77% knew its precautions. 89% understood exposure keratopathy and its preventive measures. This highlights the need for periodic training sessions and assessments among ICU nurses to improve eye care in ICU patients and reduce the incidence of avoidable blindness.