4 ways to prevent eye strain as a nurse

For healthcare workers, staying clear-eyed is key — sometimes literally. Long shifts spent staring at screens and monitors can lead to blurred vision, halo effects, blind spots and floaters.

More than 60% of people experience digital eyestrain, according to Rebuild Your Vision.

“In fact, a nurse’s eye health can indicate a lot about their general health. Similarly, vision problems can also impact their performance at work,” noted ScrubsMag.

Eyestrain symptoms include:

• Sore, tired, burning or itching eyes
• Watery or dry eyes
• Blurred or double vision
• Headache
• Sore neck, shoulders, or back
• Increased sensitivity to light, called photophobia
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feeling that you cannot keep your eyes open

Doctors say staring at a screen and not remembering to blink can lead to dry eyes, which can lead in turn to blurry vision, fatigue, and neck and shoulder cramping.

“We don’t blink as much when using screens,” says Dr. Joshua L. Dunaief, associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Scheie Eye Institute, to NBC News, “because the blink response is suppressed. So we don’t spread tears across our eyes, and they wind up drying out.”