The 4th Ophthalmic Nursing Conference, 12th March 2015

The 4th Ophthalmic Nursing Conference appears to be a key event in the calendar for ophthalmic nurses. The 2015 national event was held in historic and picturesque Bath on March 12th, 2015 and was attended by senior clinical nurses, advanced practitioners and unit / ward managers.

The day was chaired by Janet Marsden, Professor of Ophthalmology and Emergency Care, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University. Professor Marsden set the scene by describing how practices in ophthalmology had evolved and outlined the role that the nursing profession has played. Lecture topics throughout the day included an overview of experience of managing workforce planning in ophthalmology. Other topics included evaluation of the clinical effectiveness of the specialist nurse within the glaucoma clinic. Yvonne Kana, an advanced nurse practitioner, gave an interesting talk on nurse-led corneal cross linking for keratoconus. Other topics covered were therapeutic contact lenses and insulin pumps for patients that suffer from diabetes. Topics covered in the last session included a summary of intraocular lenses to correct presbyopia by Optegra Eye Sciences’ Dr Andreas Hartwig, and an overview presentation about Behçet syndrome by Erika Damato.