Original articleEffective management of exposure keratopathy developed in intensive care units: The impact of an evidence based eye care education programme

SummaryObjectivesTo assess the impact of eye care education on the incidence of corneal exposure in intensive care units (ICU).Research methodology/designApproximately 300 ICU personnel were educated about eye care to reduce the incidence of corneal exposure. The patients were divided into two groups: pre-training (Group 1: Between February 1, 2011 and March 31, 2011 [2 months]) and post-training periods (Group 2: Between April 1, 2011 and April 1 2012 [1 year]). We compared the groups for keratopathy incidence to evaluate the efficacy of this education.ResultsThe number of patients were 762 in Group 1 and 6196 in Group 2 (p = 0.335). Medians of patients followed in pre training ICU and post training ICU for each month were found to be 476 (interquartile range, 433-539) and 515 (interquartile range, 490-528). Exposure keratopathy was identified in 8 eyes of 6 patients (3 males and 3 females) in pre training ICU with the mean age of 27.6 ± 31.8 years and 5 eyes of 3 patients (1 male and 2 females) in post training ICU with the mean age of 41.3 ± 32.1 years. No significant difference was noticed between two groups in terms of the medians of patients followed in ICUs for each month (p = 0.335). The time of hospitalisation in ICU when the patients were consulted for the first ocular assessment in pre training ICU and post training ICU were found to be 13 ± 8.7 days and 8 ± 1.7 days, respectively. After the training, the decrease in incidence of exposure keratopathy was found to be highly significant (p < 0.001).ConclusionWe observed a highly significant reduction in the incidence of corneal exposure, following the eye-care education programme.