title: Cataract patients' post-op eye-care: development and evaluation of a teaching program.
abstract: A project was undertaken to develop and trial an eye care education program for use in routine nursing care. It was initiated in response to research findings that suggested patients may have been discharged from a particular hospital inadequately prepared to perform their own eye care following cataract surgery. The trial assessed the program's effectiveness in relation to predetermined standards of eye care behaviour; its practicability and its performance relative to a conventional teaching approach. Outcomes of the trial indicated that neither the program nor the conventional teaching approach provided adequate preparation for the self delivery of eye care. This is believed to relate to the limited time nurses had for face-to-face teaching and, hence, for facilitating the consolidation and application of learning. The study concludes that the provision of effective eye care education in an inpatient context lies in approaches which reduce the amount to be taught in the limited teaching time that is available. It is suggested that the relevance may not be confined to eye care education.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Latham
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ambrose
mesh_terms: D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000451:nursing*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation