Young people with spina bifida: transfer from paediatric to adult health care.
An expectation of health care for young people with disability is that quality coordinated care continues to be available as they pass from the paediatric to the adult health care system. While individual clinicians provide this service well, the widespread absence of coordinated multidisciplinary care for young people with spina bifida in the adult health care system is a major deficiency. This paper describes the planning and implementation that underpinned the transfer of 10 young people with spina bifida from a paediatric to an adult service. The range of structural, financial and 'cultural' barriers that need to be overcome before patients can be successfully transferred is highlighted; lessons learned from this model may serve to facilitate the development of other transfer services.
Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia. sawyers@cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.au
S M
SM
Sawyer
N
N
Collins
D
D
Bryan
D
D
Brown
M A
MA
Hope
G
G
Bowes
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010934:Planning Techniques; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014739:Victoria