How to give eye drops
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.
Eye drops treat infection, glaucoma and inflammation, but a wrong eye or a dirty tip can cause harm. Good technique also keeps the drug in the eye instead of the throat.
What you need
- Eye drops
- Gloves
- Clean tissues or gauze
Step by step
Confirm the patient and eye
Use two identifiers and check which eye is ordered: right, left or both. Write the eye out in full rather than using abbreviations. [1]
Clean hands and the eye
Clean your hands and put on gloves. Wipe any crust from the inner corner outward with a clean tissue. [2]
Position the patient
Ask the patient to tilt the head back and look up. Gently pull the lower lid down to make a small pocket. [2]
Place the drop
Hold the bottle just above the eye without touching the lashes or eye. Drop into the lower lid pocket, not onto the clear front of the eye. [3]
Close and press
Ask the patient to close the eye gently, not squeeze. Press lightly on the inner corner for 1 to 2 minutes to keep the drug from draining into the nose. [3]
Space multiple drugs
Wait at least 5 minutes between different eye drops. Give ointment last. [3]
Document
Record the drug, eye, number of drops, time and how the patient tolerated it. [2]
Common errors
- Touching the dropper tip to the eye or lashes.
- Dropping straight onto the cornea, which makes the patient blink it out.
- Giving two different drops back to back without waiting.
Practice it in VMS
In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.
VMS cases that train this skill
Sources
- The Joint Commission, National Patient Safety Goals
- Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
- Open RN, Nursing Pharmacology 2e (CC BY 4.0)
Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Pharmacology 2e and Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.