Visual acuity testing in the emergency department: education and competency for emergency nurses.

摘要

The loss of sight would be devastating to anyone. Knowing what amount of vision remains after an eye injury is extremely important to the emergency physician and the patient. Eye injuries or problems are encountered frequently in the emergency department and can have overwhelming consequences. To help determine the extent of an eye injury/problem, emergency nurses are required to perform visual acuity testing. Accuracy in testing and correct documentation is essential in determining the appropriate treatment and referrals. Visual acuity measurement also provides a baseline from which improvement or deterioration can be determined.Extensive emergency department chart reviews and staff queries at our facility on visual acuity testing revealed many performance and documentation inconsistencies. A need for competency-based staff education and evaluation was identified to correct these inconsistencies. In searching the literature, little information was available regarding visual acuity testing education and competency evaluation for emergency nurses using the Snellen chart.