Interaction during intravitreal injections.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Interaction during intravitreal injections.
IRAS ID
238837
Contact name
Michael A Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University of Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 8 days
Research summary
In ophthalmic care, injections of medication into the vitreous cavity of the eye (intravitreal treatments: IVTs) are routinely used in the treatment of several ophthalmic conditions, such as wet macular degeneration and diabetic macular oedema. IVT clinics in the UK usually have one injector (doctor or nurse) injecting 10 to 20 patients each morning or afternoon. Each procedure lasts 5 to 10 minutes. The precise practice varies between hospitals and between practitioners. The patient is awake throughout, and can talk. There are no official guidelines or accepted strictures on conversation in the injection room and anecdotally practice varies.
Initially injector, assistant and patient usually are engaged in informal ice-breaking type talk, as well as work such as checking the patient's details. Some injectors tolerate ongoing talk as this may help relax the patient and create a convivial working atmosphere, while others ask for silence as they believe that talking may increase the spread of bacteria and may compromise the injector’s concentration.
Treatment administered by IVT has been shown to improve quality of life as it protects and sometimes improves vision, but there is a considerable burden of treatment associated with IVTs. Anxiety has been reported as a contributor to treatment-related burden. The role of conversation in the injection room in reducing or contributing to anxiety has not been described. Conversation Analysis (CA) provides a method to study conversation in the injection room and examine what gets said, how it gets said and the impact that it has. In CA, social interaction is recorded and analysed with a detailed focus on what “gets done” by the talk. Video recordings are necessary as visual information such as gaze or gesture may contribute to understanding what an utterance 'is doing'.REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0527
Date of REC Opinion
21 Sep 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion