Understanding of eye drop use in glaucoma outpatients of King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background : Glaucoma is a commonly found disease that can lead to vision loss or permanent blindness. It can be controlled by regular treatment and using eye drops in the correct way regularly as advised by ophthalmologists.

Objective : To study the understanding of eye drop use of glaucoma outpatients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Methods : The subjects are 231 glaucoma patients being treated with eye drop. The research tools used are questionnaire to be analyzed by SPSS for percentage, average and frequency of understanding of patients for using eye drop as advised by their doctors and the techniques for using and keeping the eye drops.

Results : The study has found that the 99.1% of the subjects, used their eye drops accurately; 49.8% forgot to apply their eye drop for glaucoma; 48.9% of those who forgot to apply their eye drops were not aware of the disadvantages when they are not applied regularly. The information of using eye drops of the patients from medical personnel found that pharmacists, doctors and nurses are the ones who informed the patients about eye drop usage, which were 45.5%, 40.7% and 3.4%, respectively. The research found that 82.2% of the patients checked the name,the side of the eye and time for application of the eye drop according to the label; 76.2% washed their hands before application; 69.7% were aware that eye drops must be kept in the refrigerator. Most patients 75.3% kept their eye drops on the fridge door.

Conclusion : The study has suggests that the research information is useful for doctors, pharmacists and healthcare professionals in delivering data to optimize the care for their patients with glaucoma and increase safety for using eye drops.