Nurses Ability to Assess Visual Acuity in Geriatric Consultation

Nurses Ability to Assess Visual Acuity in Geriatric Consultation

Nurses participate to geriatric evaluations for falling patients. For these patients, it is recommended to evaluate,especially, visual acuity but this is not currently done because it is difficult to systematically combine with an ophthalmologic consultation.

The HAS french recommendations propose to detect visual acuity deficiency using Monoyer and Parinaud scales, without specifying the professional qualification. According to the nurse competence decree of State Graduates, "sensory disorders" screening is a "non-vulnerable" examination, and can be performed by nurses. Therefore, they can use these scales, after training.

We propose to evaluate the correlation between visual acuity scores obtained by nurses in geriatric consultations and an ophthalmologist.

This study should include 204 patients over 65 years, who have fallen at least twice in the last 12 months. These patients will benefit from an evaluation by an ophthalmologist, after the geriatric consultation.

Inclusion Criteria:

• at least 2 falls in the last 12 months,
• applied in geriatric evaluation
• talking French
• affiliated to the social security system

Exclusion Criteria:

• not communicating
• illiterate
• Total blindness