Survey of the contamination of eyedrops of hospital inpatients and recommendations for the changing of current practice in eyedrop dispensing
Open accessAbstract
Topical ophthalmic medications used on the ward and from the outpatient area have been taken and cultured for potential bacterial contamination in the laboratory. We examined 143 bottles used by patients who had had routine cataract surgery and trabeculectomy. We also examined for bacterial contamination 216 bottles of eyedrops used in the outpatient area of the hospital. No contamination was found in the postoperative eyedrops, but five bottles were contaminated from the outpatient area (2.3%). The bacterial growth from outpatient drops was of the same order of magnitude as in previous studies. The practice in the UK for postoperative eyedrops to be discarded and fresh, separate bottles to take home is discussed. We recommend that this practice be changed so that the postoperative drops used for 72 hours or less are taken home.
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Allowing patients to use topical medications after discharge, rather than discarding unused medication, can address some drug waste issues.
“Allowing patients to use topical medications after discharge, rather than discarding the unused medication, can address some drug waste issues.79”
From How Ophthalmologists Can Decarbonize Eye Care (2023) · cites this paper as [79]
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Sherry, B., Lee, S., Ramos Cadena, M. D. L. A., Laynor, G., Patel, S. R., Simon, M. D., Romanowski, E. G., Hochman, S. E., Schuman, J. S., Prescott, C., et al. (2023) · Ophthalmology · doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2023.02.028 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Tsegaw, A., Tsegaw, A., Abula, T., & Assefa, Y. (2017) · Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology · doi:10.4103/meajo.meajo_308_16 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Contamination of multi dose eyedrops in the intra and perioperative context
Daehn, T., Schneider, A., Knobloch, J., Hellwinkel, O. J. C., Spitzer, M. S., & Kromer, R. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-99892-8 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Stevens, J. D., & Matheson, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Moorfields Eye Hospital (GB)
- Venue
- British Journal of Ophthalmology
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 1992-01-01
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 36-38
- ISSN
- 0007-1161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC504146
- OpenAlex
- W2164305364
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal of Ophthalmology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Ophthalmology › Ocular Infections and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Infection Control in Healthcare
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Medical Device Sterilization and Disinfection
- Keywords
- bacterial contamination, hospitalized patients, cataract surgery, trabeculectomy
- MeSH terms
- Cataract Extraction, Drug Contamination, Hospitalization, Humans, Length of Stay, Ophthalmic Solutions, Outpatient Clinics, Hospital, Postoperative Care, Time Factors, Trabeculectomy
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