Congenital colour vision deficiency in healthcare professionals: a scoping review protocol of the impact on clinical practice and patient safety

Lawson, Euan and Khan, Aqib and Wessels, Quenton and Taylor, Adam (2024) Congenital colour vision deficiency in healthcare professionals: a scoping review protocol of the impact on clinical practice and patient safety. BMJ Open. ISSN 2044-6055 (In Press)

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Abstract

Introduction: Congenital colour vision deficiency (CVD), known as colour blindness, is a common visual problem affecting around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. It is known that people who have red-green CVD, the most common phenotype, can have difficulty differentiating colours and this can impact on the ability to perform clinical tasks related to patient care. The objective of this scoping review is to understand the extent and type of evidence and the impact on clinical practice and patient safety arising from congenital CVD in healthcare professionals. Methods and analysis: The scoping review will follow the methodological framework outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute and by Arksey and O’Malley and we will adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis Scoping Review checklist. The following databases will be searched: PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, SCOPUS, LENS.org and TRIP (filtered for low-income countries) with no limit on earliest date and up to 30 November 2024. Grey literature will be identified by planned searches in the Overton Index. All articles related to CVD in healthcare professionals in clinical practice or in training will be included. The study will also include other professionals who may be involved in healthcare but are not involved in direct patient-facing activities. It will be limited to congenital CVD and will exclude the impact of visual impairment and acquired CVD. There will be an initial search to validate the search strategy. Titles and abstracts will be screened to determine eligibility, and the full text will be reviewed using a data extraction framework. Data will be extracted, collated and then mapped and summarised to present the relevant key findings and outcomes from the papers in tabular and visualised form with a narrative synthesis. Ethics and dissemination: The scoping review does not need ethical approval and will provide an overview of the impact of congenital CVD on clinical practice and patient safety. This will determine the future need and direction of research in this area and identify methodological challenges and opportunities. The results will be published open access in a peer-reviewed journal.