Developing clinical guidelines in eye care for intensive care units

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Paediatric Intensive Care

Background:

• Children in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) frequently experience compromised ocular defense mechanisms.
• Inconsistent eye care practices were identified within the authors' PICU.
• A lack of clinical guidelines contributed to the absence of evidence-based practice for preventing corneal complications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the challenges associated with ocular care in the PICU setting.
• To describe the process of developing a clinical guideline for eye care in a PICU.
• To promote evidence-based practice and prevent corneal complications.

Main Methods:

• Review of current eye care practices in the PICU.
• Identification of inconsistencies and gaps in care.
• Development and implementation of a clinical guideline for paediatric eye care.

Main Results:

• Inconsistencies in eye care practices were confirmed.
• No pre-existing clinical guidelines for PICU eye care were found.
• A new evidence-based guideline for eye care has been successfully developed and implemented.

Conclusions:

• Impaired ocular defenses are common in PICU patients.
• Clinical guidelines are essential for standardizing evidence-based eye care in PICUs.
• The developed guideline aims to prevent corneal complications and improve patient outcomes.