Perioperative nursing in the Third World: improvise without compromise

1. The reality of nursing in the Third World is a severe limitation of human, fiscal, and environmental resources. Our plan was to overcome these obstacles and establish a plan and perform outpatient eye surgeries. 2. The biggest obstacle was a lack of acceptance of the outpatient concept and many cultural differences. Native team members became excited about the concept when they saw positive results and the effectiveness of care. 3. Today, well-trained ophthalmic nurses are performing perioperative nursing in their native setting; they have become self-sufficient, independent workers; they are teaching other native nurses; and outpatient surgery is being performed daily.