Blue Light Blocking Glasses: Essential for Nurses
An Essential Item in Your Nurse Kit
Blue light blocking glasses are a popular trend right now – being seen everywhere. Besides helping with the facial aesthetics (for some, me…), what is the big deal? What do nurses need to know about them?
First – Let’s talk about how the role of nursing has changed.
Gone are the days where the majority of our work is directly with the patient or at the bedside. Now, “if you didn’t chart it, it didn’t get done” reigns supreme. While electronic medical records (EMR) has many advantages to help
- Consolidate patient information
- Increase safety by keeping information in one convenient place
- Allergies
- Reactions to medications
- X-Ray or other results
- Lab results
- Plan of Care
- Notes from providers, specialists, nurses
- Provide for quick communication of the important charting elements between levels or places of care
- Electronic prescribing
- Other advantages
There are some disadvantages as well. Some people have concerns about privacy, backups, and then there’s the question (that I have received as a manager when a EMR system has locked up/ gone down temporarily) “How do we chart?”
Surprisingly not everyone knows how to paper chart — it is important that you have and are familiar with a back up system if you need it.
With the amount of time required by the EMR and governing institutions or payor sources of what needs to be in the EMR and when… it can be difficult to get your bearings and sometimes even keep your focus on what is important — the patient and patient care.
However, with careful practice and purposeful learning of not just how to work in and navigate your EMR but also in developing your art and skill in patient care — you can successfully navigate the needs of both the patient and the record keeping requirements.
One thing we cannot get away from, though, is the fact that the EMR is electronic, and on a screen.
Apps, Smart Phones, Electronic Screens and Blue Light Blocking Glasses
Let’s say you don’t work in an entity that requires use of an EMR. Do you ever:
- Use an app for reference (such as Epocrates, Up to Date, other?)
- Have a Smart Phone that you ever look at for any reason
- Use a computer routinely
- Watch TV
If yes to any of these things, blue light blocking glasses may be for you.
How Do Blue Light Blocking Glasses Work?
According to The Vision Council, over 80% of American adults have over 2 hours of digital device exposure daily.
This can cause your eyes to:
- Feel tired
- Feel dry
- Have blurry vision
While these can be viewed as inconveniences, it should also be noted that digital eye strain can impact the health of your eyes, lead to increased risk of eye disease, and disrupt sleep/wake cycles. In addition, some neck/back pain or headaches can be traced back to the impact of digital eye strain.
Digital eye strain is linked to how we use electronics and our behaviors with the interaction.
Blue light has not been found to be linked to digital eye strain at this time. However, I have found that when wearing my blue light blocking glasses, I experience less eye muscle fatigue, my eyes feel less tired or dry and I have a better experience interacting with the electronic devices I am around every day.
The great thing about blue light blocking glasses for nurses is that they can help eye strain and fatigue in several ways.
Blue light blocking glasses reduce the blue light transmission from devices used throughout the day. This particular wavelength of light is harmful to the eyes and blocking it can reduce the strain our eyes are exposed to. Blue light can come from a variety of places, including the sun. Taking steps to help reduce exposure can enhance wellness.
Often, blue light blocking glasses have anti-glare properties added to the lenses that also help with eye health.
It is important to remember that while blue light blocking glasses are helpful, if blurry vision or dry eyes continue, changing the way you use electronic devices may be essential in reducing eye strain.
As always, remember that preventative, wellness, or acute/chronic care is important in all areas – including eye health. Schedule an eye exam with an optometrist today to establish your baseline, assess your eye health, and create a plan of care.
Some Wellness Practices to Help with Eye Strain
- Blink.
- This simple action helps clear your orbits and provide lubrication. Staring wide eyed at a screen for extended times is unhealthy for your eyes. Blink often.
- 20/20/20.
- Every twenty minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 – 30 seconds.
- Shifting your focus away from a screen to a stationary object you focus on across the room will provide much needed rest for your eyes.
- Adjust Your Screen.
- Adjust the brightness and color of your screen or monitor.
- Ensure it is not too bright (it should not be a light source in the room), not be too blue or too gray.
- Adjust Your Seat.
- Ensure you are not too close to your device, and that your head / neck are in a neutral position.
- It may be helpful (if you have a computer in each exam room, for example), to set them up at different heights, with different keyboard placements. This ensures that each time you move rooms, you are shifting your position in relation to the computer screen, mouse and keys.
- Keeping the keys 20 – 24 inches away from you (an arm’s length) may see excessive, but it is an important functional difference in how you interact with the computer in a more healthful way.
- This action can help reduce fatigue in your body, neck and your eyes.
- Upgrade Your Screen.
- LED screens will have less of the “flickering” effect of older screens and monitors
- Less light fluctuations (even these subtle ones caused by the flickering) will result in less eye strain
- Blue Light Blocking Glasses
- Do you usually wear glasses? Ask your eye care professional about a pair specifically for work that is for up-close reading / computer work that includes blue light blocking in the lenses.
- Do you wear contacts? Contacts can lead to eye dryness, which can increase eye strain and fatigue. Ask your eye care professional about switching to glasses for work that include a blue light blocking element in the lenses.
- Do you not wear glasses normally? Consider a pair of blue light blocking glasses. These do not have to come from an eye care professional. Some of my favorite pairs have come from Amazon.
Blue Light Blocking Glasses – Essential for Nurses
Protecting your eyes is very important for you now and in the future. A huge part of what you do – assessment – is done through visualizing the patient.
Blue light blocking glasses can help in that quest. Keeping a pair of blue light blocking glasses in your nursing bag will ensure you have easy access to this eye protection whenever you are at work.
As mentioned above, some of my favorite pairs (I have a collection) come from Amazon.
- I love a feminine floral pair.
- Other times, I take a walk on the wild side with a leopard print.
- Blue fade or purple frames help accessorize my scrubs.
- In short – you can be professional or fun in your choices because the price point allows for flexibility.
It has been my experience that the blue light blocking glasses I have bought from Amazon can scratch. Because, well… I am not always the gentlest on my stuff. So having a quick and simple eye glass case is important to protect these valuable nurse friends.
While a recent systemic review indicates there just isn’t enough information available right now to recommend the widespread use of blue light blocking glasses in clinical practice, it is interesting to note that research on the use of blue light blocking glasses and their effects are continuing and varied in their scope and focus.
So Where Does This Leave You?
You are perfectly positioned – just as you have always been – to be the advocate for your own health and wellness.
The great thing about blue light blocking glasses is they are available, convenient, non-invasive and, for some (including me) highly effective in reducing eye strain.
I use blue light blocking glasses and love them so much, that I went to my eye care professional who ordered me a pair of prescription lenses with the blue light and anti glare features added. And this time, I got a case… because… scratches happen in my nurse bag.
One really important thing to keep in mind as a nurse is that your wellness and your nurse life balance is something you can help create and arrange.
If there is something that works well for you and adds to your experience without harming others or (obviously) being illegal, dangerous or negatively impact your license: you can look to include it in your pursuit of a work life balance. Wholeness in your experience is essential. Finding ways to enhance that wholeness is important.
You are positioned perfectly to be your own advocate for health, wellness, balance, wholeness.
This article has some great tips on how you can incorporate some other things into your routine to enhance wellness.
Looking for Some Other Ways to Increase Your Work Life Balance and Wellness?
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