1. Improving access to vision rehabilitation care: implementation of the South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service.
- Author
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Eden K, Doliszny K, Shukla R, Foster J, and Bona M
- Subjects
- Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Ontario, Referral and Consultation statistics & numerical data, Retrospective Studies, Visual Acuity, Health Services Accessibility statistics & numerical data, Vision, Low rehabilitation
- Abstract
Objective: To investigate the effect of the South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service (SOVRS), a centrally administered, regionally delivered vision rehabilitation service, on access to vision rehabilitation care., Design: Pre-implementation (n = 1196) and post-implementation (n = 414) observational study., Participants: Patients referred for low-vision assessment at the hospital-based Kingston Health Sciences Centre Vision Rehabilitation Clinic and community-based Southeastern Vision Loss Rehabilitation Ontario clinics from 2014 to 2019., Methods: Markers for access to care (e.g., patient rurality, diversity of referral source, distance and time travelled, and wait times) were compared before and after SOVRS implementation., Results: After SOVRS implementation, there was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in the number of rural patients seen in the community. After SOVRS implementation, the hospital-based Vision Rehabilitation Clinic site experienced a significant increase in referrals from outside of Kingston (p < 0.001) and non-eye-care clinicians (p < 0.001), a significant reduction in patient time and distance travelled (p < 0.001), a 6% decrease in median wait time for low-vision assessments, and a significant reduction in wait time between referral and first available appointment (p = 0.011)., Conclusion: SOVRS, a novel service-delivery model for vision rehabilitation care, improved the delivery of and access to vision rehabilitation care in southeast Ontario through the integration of regional resources and services., Competing Interests: Footnotes and Disclosure The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article., (Copyright © 2023 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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