Skill Development for Self-Administration of Eye Medication among the Adult Patients Attending the Ophthalmology Department of a Tertiary Care Institute in Northern India

Eye problems have been on a continuous rise among adult population. Therefore, the need is to provide guidance and technical support by developing comprehensive eye care systems to address the problem of self administration of eye drops among the adult patients. Objectives: To develop the skill of self-administration of eye drops among the adult patients. Methodology: An operational research design was used and 35adult patients attending AEC OPD were enrolled by purposive sampling technique. Tool used were 1. Interview Schedule consists of (a) Socio-demographic data (b) Clinical profile of participants 2. Checklist regarding steps of administration of eye drops. After enrolment participants were interviewed as per interview schedule. They were asked to demonstrate self-eye drop administration by using refresh tear drops. After observing their skill, the demonstration of procedure was given by researcher as per protocol for administration of eye drops and this was followed by return demonstration evaluated by checklist. Maximum3 times return demonstration was done after making corrections. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Results: Most of the participants were able to perform correct procedure of self-administration of eye drops during last return demonstration. The incorrectly performed steps by participants was not touching the dropper, pressing the inner canthus, which also showed improvement from 31% - 67% and 0% - 71% respectively. Conclusion: Self eye administration skills were improved from pretest to last observation of posttest. The skill of self-administration of eye drops was developed in the participants.