An Educational-Based Approach to Prevent Corneal Abrasions at a Community Hospital

Corneal abrasions (CA) are one of the most common anesthesia-related adverse events. There is limited evidence about the effect of virtual education on providers’ knowledge regarding CA prevention. The purpose of this project was to assess if a web-based educational module effectively improved anesthesia providers’ awareness of evidence-based preventative measures of CA. This project had a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design. All participants completed a questionnaire regarding the knowledge on CA prevention before and after the educational module. A student T-test was used to compare the differences in pre- and post-education knowledge scores. Among 25 participants, 12.0% were anesthesiologists and 88.0% were certified registered nurse anesthetists. There was a significant pretest-posttest difference on the total knowledge score (6.88 ± 1.59 vs. 8.29 ± 1.31, p &lt; .001). Overall, the average number of correct answers increased from 6.88 (SD = 1.59) to 8.29 (SD = 1.31), t = 4.22, p<.001. The web-based educational module effectively enhanced anesthesia providers’ knowledge in preventing surgical induced CA. The finding may add evidence when developing guidelines and standardizing provider education in CA prevention.