40% increase in corneal transplants as nurses take on key surgical role

Theatre nurse Anita Kerrén assists ophthalmic surgeon Ingemar Gustafsson during certain steps of DMEK procedures.

Shorter waiting times and an increased number of corneal transplantations per day – a new approach within ophthalmic surgery has led to a 40% rise in procedures. This increase is the result of a change in practice, where operating theatre nurses now prepare corneal grafts, a task previously performed solely by doctors.

"At first, it was nerve-racking to take over a task that had only been carried out by doctors, but now I feel confident in it. It is also rewarding to contribute more and support my colleagues," says Anita Kerrén, theatre nurse in ophthalmology at Skåne University Hospital in Lund.

The clinic performs approximately 200 corneal transplantations per year – a procedure that can dramatically improve a patient’s vision. However, waiting times for surgery are often long, particularly as patients from outside the southern healthcare region also seek treatment at the clinic. To address this, the clinic introduced a new working method last autumn to reduce waiting times: a theatre nurse took over a crucial step in a specific type of corneal transplantation, known as Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK).

Before the DMEK graft can be placed in the patient’s eye, it must be prepared. The ultra-thin graft must be removed from its storage medium and transferred to the appropriate surgical instrument using a technique that ensures the graft itself is never directly touched. This is the task that the theatre nurse now performs.