Ophthalmic Nursing in Specialized Healthcare

Abstract

In health care settings, due to advancement in technologies, the expectations from every individual have increased over the last few years. Advance nursing educational programs & trainings are developing competency of nurses in every specialized area. Consequently the nurses need to enhance practical skills to meet the expectations of the patient. Nurses have upgraded standard of nursing care both in community health & hospital based health care settings. Specialized ophthalmic nurse plays significant role regarding promotion of eye health, preventive & curative treatment of eye disease as well as for low vision services & rehabilitation. In challenging situation to meet the growing needs of ophthalmic profession, modern ophthalmic nurse is frequently encountered with expectations to deal more patients, more swiftly by using specialized ophthalmic skills & new technology to meet the goals regarding eye health and wellbeing of the patients. This advanced specialized skill enables ophthalmic nurses to expand their practices in different areas of ophthalmic care. Nurses are more vigilant to deal emergencies especially in areas where the resources are minimum and burden of patients. In tertiary eye hospitals nurses perform administrative duties very efficiently as well as clinical duties. An ophthalmic nurse can assess visually impaired patient. They also helps to meet the psychological or spiritual needs of the patient. They can educate and counsel patient which plays a significant role in increasing the awareness of visually impaired.