Competence of ophthalmic healthcare professionals in self-administration of eye drops

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the competence of ophthalmic healthcare professionals in the self-administration of eye drops.
METHODS: Doctors and nurses from the ophthalmology department constituted the study group, while age-, gender-, and visual acuity-matched healthy individuals formed the control group. None of the participants were patients. All participants were given single-dose (monodose) sodium hyaluronate drops and were asked to self-administer the drops in both eyes. Eye drop instillation was assessed based on three criteria: (1) successful delivery of at least one drop onto the ocular surface or conjunctival fornix, (2) avoiding contact of the bottle tip with the ocular surface or surrounding tissues, and (3) instillation of one drop at a time. “Successful drop instillation” was defined as meeting all three criteria.
RESULTS: Eighty-six cases were included (43 in each group). Successful instillation was observed in 26 participants (60.4%) in the study group, compared to 12 participants (27.9%) in the control group (p=0.002). Contact of the dropper tip with any surface occurred in 7 (16.2%) versus 23 cases (53.4%) in the study group and the control group (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: Despite clinical experience, approximately 40% of the study group failed in proper self-instillation. The study group performed significantly better at steps requiring fine motor control, such as not allowing the bottle tip to touch any surface. These findings highlight the need for structured patient education to promote safer and more effective eye drop use.

Keywords: Eye drops, Patient compliance, Treatment compliance