Childhood Vision Screening in Western South Dakota: Examining Barriers to Post-Vision Screening Follow-up Referral.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Poor follow-up after post-screening referral is a challenge faced by vision screening organizations. This study examines barriers to follow-up eye care in children who were referred for a comprehensive eye exam following a vision screening event in western South Dakota. METHODS: Children referred for a comprehensive eye exam following a screening event by Northern Plains Eye Foundation Western South Dakota Lions Children's Vision Screening Initiative (CVSI) from September 2014 to February 2015 were identified for a telephone survey. Parents/guardians of these children were contacted and asked a series of questions aimed at assessing the barriers to obtaining eye care. RESULTS: Of the 282 children identified, parents/guardians of 63 were successfully surveyed (22.3 percent), 38 had attended an appointment (60.3 percent), and 19 (30.2 percent) brought the CVSI referral form when they attended the appointment. When parents/guardians of the 25 children who had not attended an appointment were surveyed, 12 (19 percent) were not aware the screening results indicated a full eye exam was recommended, 10 (15.9 percent) identified barriers to scheduling an appointment, and three (4.8 percent) had an appointment scheduled in the future or forgot a scheduled appointment. CONCLUSION: The majority of surveyed parents/guardians reported their children having seen an eye care provider. Appropriate documentation has been limited due to reliance on parents/guardians to give referral forms to eye care providers and subsequent dependence on providers to forward completed referral forms to CVSI. Improved documentation is needed to assess the accuracy of the screening, support screening prevalence data, and evaluate the impact of CVSI.