Healthcare Provider Perspectives on the Assessment and Management of Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children

BACKGROUND: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a common sequela of early life brain injuries and can affect participation in daily life activities such as ambulation, social interactions and school engagement. CVI care requires a multidisciplinary healthcare team to support the child and family, but best practices remain undefined. We sought to explore the perspectives of healthcare providers in the assessment and treatment of CVI in Alberta, Canada. METHODS: Online surveys were used to inquire about challenges affecting the provision of CVI care. Scores from 5-point Likert scale questions were compared between professions using t-tests. Open-ended questions were coded with themes generated using content analysis. RESULTS: = 0.003). Over 60% described inadequate communication pathways between teams, and 50% described a lack of clarity in CVI referral processes. Open-ended questions highlighted a need for standardization of CVI assessment and treatment (unclear referral pathways, communication challenges between team members) and resource challenges (access to specialized staff and support personnel, insufficient time for assessment and lack of physical resources). CONCLUSION: Many interdisciplinary team members in a provincial universal health care system describe current assessment and treatment processes for CVI as unclear, lacking in efficient referral pathways and do not feel adequately resourced to meet the needs of affected children and families.