Utilization and barriers of eye care services following pediatric vision screening within public schools

Wang, P.; Bianchet, S.; Carter, M.; Law, C.

Introduction: In August 2018, Ontario introduced the Child Visual Health and Vision Screening Protocol outlining school-based senior kindergarten vision screening. Screening implementation relies on individual public health units. (3) While there is a post-screening notification process, there is no obligation for families to comply. We evaluated the impact of screening in our region. Methods: Vision screening data (gender, HOTV, Randot, autorefractor) was collected for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years;data for 2019-2020 was incomplete due to COVID. follow-up phone calls to guardians of n = 252 “refer” and n = 249 “pass” children were conducted to determine whether an optometry visit occurred, glasses were prescribed, and potential barriers to accessing eye care. Schools were categorized according to pre-defined dental screening risk. Results: Of the 1127 children screened, 363 were identified as refer (32.6%). The average age of children screened was 6.11 years A significant relationship was found between increasing school risk and receiving a refer X2 (2, N = 1127) = 29.94, P < 0.005. The response rate for phone follow-up was 31.7% (n = 158). Of those followed-up by phone, n = 92 children were referred and 70.6% (n = 65) of these had sought follow-up with an eye care specialist. Conclusion: Follow-up phone call also revealed a high proportion of children sought out follow-up care after being referred. Despite universal province-wide yearly optometric pediatric eye examination coverage, children at high-risk schools are more frequently referred. Considerations into implementing follow-up for refers from higher risk schools and underserved communities may be warranted.