Cuidados oculares ao doente crítico: revisão da literatura

Abstract

Introduction: Critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (UCI) are subject to several risk factors that make them vulnerable to eye injuries that can compromise their vision. It is essential that the multidisciplinary team, particularly the nursing team, is attentive to assessing risk factors and identifying possible signs of ocular complications, as well as managing the prevention of ocular injuries.

Objective/s: To identify and standardise appropriate eye care for critically ill patients in the ICU in order to implement preventive measures to minimise the occurrence of ophthalmic complications.

Methods: Literature review based on a bibliographic search conducted in the EBSCOHost search engine and Pubmed database and guidelines from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and Faculty of Intensive Care - Intensive Care Society and through the descriptors "eye care", "prone position", "intensive care unit" and "critical care nursing". The inclusion criteria defined for this review were articles written in Portuguese and English with full text free and that answered the research question, published in the last 4 years (january 2018 to december 2022). Observational, prospective quantitative studies were considered, as well as literature reviews, opinion articles and guidelines on the subject under study. The exclusion criteria included articles that were outside the scope of the PCC question.

Results: Six articles and two documents were analysed, dividing the results into two themes: recognition of risk factors/identification of possible ocular complications and management of specialized eye care for the critically ill.

Conclusion: Ensuring standardised and systematic eye care are autonomous interventions by the nursing team that aim to minimise the onset of possible ocular complications in the critically ill patient, which do not entail increased costs, adding to health gains.