Effectiveness of educational intervention on self-care practices of critically ill patients with diabetic retinopathy

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is considered a common and specific microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus that develops over a period of time and causes irreversible blindness.  Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention for diabetic retinopathy patients on self-care practices. Research Design: Quasi-experimental research design was utilized in this study. Sampling: A purposive sample of 80 critically ill patients with diabetic retinopathy. Setting: Opthalmology emergency department in Damietta hospital`from emergency reception to inpatient zoon from ophthalmology in Damietta Hospital was included in this study and the sample had been divided equally into study and control groups. Instruments: Data were collected using two tools; the first tool was a structured interview questionnaire sheet. The second tool was a self-care practices checklist. Results: After implementation of the program, there was an improvement of self-care practices on post and follow up tests than pretest. . For example, patients who were able to adequately perform hand washing, instilling eye drops, apply eye ointment and perform eye care were, 92%, 56%, 64%, and 60% on posttest and 90.0%, 48.0%, 44.0%, 50.0% at follow up test compared to only 70.0%, 20.0%, 22.0% and 26.9% on pretest. Conclusion: Applying the educational intervention was effective in improving patients' self-care practices. Recommendation: Ophthalmologic nurses should follow the educational intervention to prepare patients to perform their self-care practices.