Livingstone D J, Hanlon G W, Dyke S
Sussex Pharmacy Academic Practice Unit, Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.
Br J Ophthalmol. 1998 May;82(5):473-5. doi: 10.1136/bjo.82.5.473.
To evaluate and compare the microbial contamination arising from 1 and 2 weeks' use of eye drops by hospital inpatients and hence determine the validity of apportioning a 2 week in use expiry date for these preparations.
Eye drop residues were collected from inpatients of Worthing, Southlands, and Brighton General hospitals after 7 days' use (341 samples) and also after 14 days' use (295 samples). The contents of the containers were examined for the presence of contaminating bacteria and fungi.
The incidence of microbial contamination was shown to be not significantly different (p > 0.1 chi 2 test) between the 7 and 14 day samples. In addition, the contaminating micro-organisms were of a broadly similar pattern between the two sample groups and were mostly those normally associated with the skin. Less frequent contaminants were organisms of environmental origin. None of the micro-organisms isolated were considered to be of clinical significance and the mean number of cells found per sample was very low.
The evidence therefore suggests that increasing the period of use for eye drops in hospitals from 7 to 14 days would not present a clinically significant threat to patients' health and yet may lead to annual savings to the NHS of Pounds 0.5 million.
评估并比较医院住院患者使用眼药水1周和2周后产生的微生物污染情况，从而确定为这些制剂设定2周使用有效期的合理性。
从沃辛、索思兰兹和布莱顿综合医院的住院患者处收集使用7天（341份样本）和14天（295份样本）后的眼药水残留。检查容器内容物中是否存在污染细菌和真菌。
7天和14天样本的微生物污染发生率无显著差异（卡方检验，p>0.1）。此外，两个样本组的污染微生物模式大致相似，主要是那些通常与皮肤相关的微生物。较少见的污染物是环境来源的微生物。分离出的微生物均无临床意义，每个样本中发现的细胞平均数非常低。
因此，有证据表明，将医院眼药水的使用期限从7天延长至14天不会对患者健康构成临床上的重大威胁，但可能每年为英国国民医疗服务体系节省50万英镑。
