THE NATURE OF OPHTHALMIC SERVICES, AND THE EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF NURSES - A NATIONAL SURVEY

This paper reports on a national survey undertaken by the Royal Colleg e of Nursing (RCN) Ophthalmic Nursing Forum to assess, first, the natu re of ophthalmic services and, second, skill-mix and educational oppor tunities of nurses working with ophthalmic patients, A questionnaire w as formulated and tested by members of the committee, with research an d statistical support from the School of Nursing Studies, University o f Manchester. The questionnaire was sent to the total population of op hthalmic units/hospitals in the UK (n = 168), Following descriptive st atistical data analysis it was concluded that in smaller units, that i s those with less than 18 beds (NE mean number of beds = 18), less tha n one in four nurses holds an ophthalmic qualification. Some responden ts identified that in 10 instances no nurses held an ophthalmic qualif ication and that on 12 further occasions only one nurse held a relevan t ophthalmic qualification. There are insufficient numbers of nurses h olding ophthalmic qualifications. The implications of this situation a re discussed and recommendations made.