A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STRUCTURED TEACHING PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF CONJUNCTIVITIS AMONG PEOPLE IN SELECTED COMMUNITY AREA AT PALLITHOTTAM, KOLLAM
*Mekha M., Merin Mathew, Mridula Murali, Nimiya Benny, Riya Elezabeth Skariya and Prince Christopher
.
ABSTRACT
Conjunctivitis is a common cause of eye redness and, subsequently, a common complaint in the emergency
department, urgent care, and primary care clinics. It can affect people of any age, demographic, or socioeconomic
status. More than 80% of all acute cases are generally diagnosed by non-ophthalmologists, such as internists,
primary care providers, paediatricians, and nurse practitioners. This imparts a huge economic burden on the
healthcare system, causing a large proportion of clinic visits in many medical specialties. The cost of managing
bacterial conjunctivitis in the United States is 857 million US dollars annually. Although. usually self-limiting and
rarely resulting in vision loss, it is essential to rule out other sight-threatening causes of red-eye when assessing for
conjunctivitis. It has been reported that nearly 60% of all patients with acute conjunctivitis receive antibiotic eye
drops; and the vast majority receive their prescription from a non-ophthalmologist physician. For example, 68% of
patients who visited a physician at an emergency room received antibiotic eye drops while this figure dropped to
36% for those who saw an ophthalmologist. Interestingly, patients from a higher socioeconomic status were more
likely to receive and fill a prescription for their conjunctivitis.
Keywords: .
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