ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE OF POST OPERATIVE NURSING CARE OF CATARACT SURGERY AMONG NURSES AT LAHORE GENERAL HOSPITAL, LAHORE

Cataract is one of the major cause of blindness in elderly worldwide. Lack of proper postoperative nursing care may lead to irreversible repercussions for the patients and the family. The aim of this study was to examine the role of the practical application of nursing guidelines with their knowledge and practices on attaining post cataract surgery benefits. This quasi-experimental pre-post assessment study was carried out on 100 nurses working at the outpatient Department of Ophthalmology Mayo Hospital Lahore on 200 patients undergoing cataract surgery. Data collection tools consisted of a self-drafted questionnaire and an observation checklist. The researchers designed Nursing SOPs based on analysis of the data collected in the assessment phase to provide nurses with guidelines for the post operative cataract surgery. The evaluation of the effect of guidelines on nurses knowledge and practice, and consequently on patients needs was examined immediately after implementation and after 3 months of follow up. The results showed statistically significant improvements in nurses knowledge and practice at the post and follow-up tests (p<0.001), with statistically significant strong positive correlation (r=0.714) between them. Also, there were statistically significant improvements in all areas of patient needs after implementation (p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, the intervention was a statistically significant independent positive predictor of the improvement in nurses’ knowledge and practice, and of patients’ needs. In conclusion, implementing nursing guidelines for care of cataract patients after surgery is effective in inducing improvements in nurses’ related knowledge and practice, which better achievement of patients' needs. It is recommended that these guidelines be used in similar settings. Further research is proposed to investigate the effect of implementation of guidelines in reducing post operative cataract complications.

Keywords: Cataract, Postoperative, Nursing, Guidelines, Knowledge, Practice