A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur

Objective Eye injuries during general anaesthesia (GA) are not common, and are much easier to prevent than to treat, providing theatre staff take care to use correct eye protection. Some operations are at higher risk than others. Our hospital had a recent series of eye injuries which triggered actio...

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Main Author: Lulu Guthrie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 2023-10-01
Series:Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://psj.mums.ac.ir/article_23684_8264891da2f72e169b953ce5fdac5c53.pdf
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author Lulu Guthrie
author_facet Lulu Guthrie
author_sort Lulu Guthrie
collection DOAJ
description Objective Eye injuries during general anaesthesia (GA) are not common, and are much easier to prevent than to treat, providing theatre staff take care to use correct eye protection. Some operations are at higher risk than others. Our hospital had a recent series of eye injuries which triggered action to investigate the route cause, improve prevention, and provide clinicians with a toolkit to manage those that do occur.SettingThis quality improvement project was done across two hospitals within one trust - Bristol Royal Infirmary and St Michael’s Hospital, both within University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.Intervention We introduced local training to raise awareness in eye injuries, and an eye guideline (standard operating procedure) which as uploaded onto the trust intranet to clarify eye protection measures for all staff, in addition to guiding management for eye injuries that occur.DiscussionOur guideline divided patients into 2 groups - high risk and low risk for eye injuries. Those with a low risk had their eyes taped. Those meeting criteria for “high risk” included operations on the head and neck, patients with positioning such as prone positioning, lateral positioning, or prolonged/steep head down positioning. These patients are treated with lubricant and dedicated eye tape. We introduced an “Eye Box” which resides in theatre recovery, which can be used by clinicians reviewing patients with a suspected eye injury. This streamlines the process of assessment by consolidating all required equipment and information in one box. The box contains the guideline, equipment to assess the eye (local anaesthetic, fluorescein, ophthalmoscope), as well as chloramphenicol ointment to allow clinicians to initiate treatment immediately.
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spelling doaj-art-796ea2a02ad6479ba05d6dcf2fc10a0e2025-08-20T03:35:02ZengMashhad University of Medical SciencesPatient Safety and Quality Improvement Journal2345-44822345-44902023-10-0111423323310.22038/psj.2023.74402.140323684A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do OccurLulu Guthrie0University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation TrustObjective Eye injuries during general anaesthesia (GA) are not common, and are much easier to prevent than to treat, providing theatre staff take care to use correct eye protection. Some operations are at higher risk than others. Our hospital had a recent series of eye injuries which triggered action to investigate the route cause, improve prevention, and provide clinicians with a toolkit to manage those that do occur.SettingThis quality improvement project was done across two hospitals within one trust - Bristol Royal Infirmary and St Michael’s Hospital, both within University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.Intervention We introduced local training to raise awareness in eye injuries, and an eye guideline (standard operating procedure) which as uploaded onto the trust intranet to clarify eye protection measures for all staff, in addition to guiding management for eye injuries that occur.DiscussionOur guideline divided patients into 2 groups - high risk and low risk for eye injuries. Those with a low risk had their eyes taped. Those meeting criteria for “high risk” included operations on the head and neck, patients with positioning such as prone positioning, lateral positioning, or prolonged/steep head down positioning. These patients are treated with lubricant and dedicated eye tape. We introduced an “Eye Box” which resides in theatre recovery, which can be used by clinicians reviewing patients with a suspected eye injury. This streamlines the process of assessment by consolidating all required equipment and information in one box. The box contains the guideline, equipment to assess the eye (local anaesthetic, fluorescein, ophthalmoscope), as well as chloramphenicol ointment to allow clinicians to initiate treatment immediately.https://psj.mums.ac.ir/article_23684_8264891da2f72e169b953ce5fdac5c53.pdfabrasioncornealocular
spellingShingle Lulu Guthrie
A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Journal
abrasion
corneal
ocular
title A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
title_full A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
title_fullStr A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
title_full_unstemmed A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
title_short A Project to Improve Eye Protection to Prevent Eye Injuries Under General Anaesthesia, and Provision of a Toolkit to Manage Eye Injuries that Do Occur
title_sort project to improve eye protection to prevent eye injuries under general anaesthesia and provision of a toolkit to manage eye injuries that do occur
topic abrasion
corneal
ocular
url https://psj.mums.ac.ir/article_23684_8264891da2f72e169b953ce5fdac5c53.pdf
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