At Woodhams Eye Clinic, the surgery is all high-tech and cutting edge, but thanks to nurses on staff, the patient care is all hightouch.
Jeanine Morgan, RN, hadn't planned to specialize in eye care when she went into nursing, but she began her career at a Boston ear, nose and throat specialty hospital.
"An eye surgery was my first operating room experience and it turned out that I was really good at it," Morgan said. She served as both the circulating and scrub nurse for many operations.
"When we moved to Atlanta, I learned that a lot of these procedures were done in eye clinics. This was an entirely different setting for me," she said.
At Woodhams Eye Clinic, Morgan's job is to manage staff, get patients ready for surgery and to monitor them during recovery and afterward. As a nurse, she views the patient as a whole, knowing that what is going on internally (such as hypertension or diabetes) can affect the patient's outcome.
"I do a lot of patient education, but I've had plenty of experience with that since I worked on a transplant unit in ICU," she said. "Most patients are anxious before surgery and don't hear everything you tell them. Afterward is when they have questions."
Morgan likes the atmosphere of the small office where she can follow up with patients more extensively and establish relationships with co-workers. She also appreciates the steady schedule of an eight-hour day. "What I didn't expect is the amount of new knowledge I'm absorbing," she said.
"They didn't do Lasik [surgery] in the hospital, so I've learned all about that and now we're doing Crystalens," Morgan said.
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration late last year, "the new lens technology brings us one step closer to the kind of natural vision we were meant to have," Dr. J. Trevor Woodhams said.
Crystalens implantation differs from Lasik surgery in that it involves microsurgical removal and replacement of the eye's natural lens rather than a laser treatment of the cornea. It can surgically correct cataract and age-related farsightedness and reduce or eliminate nearsightedness.
"Working at the clinic, I'm constantly exposed to new technologies and I like that a lot," Morgan said.
What Shirley McCullough, RN, likes best is being able to talk to her patients. A surgical nurse for 46 years, she's witnessed many surgical advances. "I can remember when we lifted cataracts out by hand and did retina surgery by withdrawing the fluid out of the eye slowly with a 50cc syringe, while the surgeon inserted new fluid," she said.
"For years, all my patients were sedated," McCullough said. "Now I can actually get to know them. I can talk to them during procedures.
"Patients say that having someone hold their hand through surgery really made them feel better." Functioning as the surgical nurse, she works with the doctor, monitors vital signs and is prepared for emergencies. Trained in advanced cardiac life support, she administers oxygen as needed.
"I try to share the tricks I've learned along the way with younger nurses, but every day I come to work, I learn something new," McCullough said. "The changes in eye surgery continue to amaze me."
Morgan believes that the growing number of eye clinics will offer nurses more working options. "All you need is nurse training and OR experience. It's great to be part of a changing environment where you're constantly upgrading your skills," she said.