Perspectives

Barriers to Effective Transitions of Care from Adolescent to Adult Medicine

Authors: Kehinde Eniola, MD, MPH

Abstract

A well-planned and structured transition process of adolescents (ie, individuals ages 10–19 years of age as defined
by the World Health Organization) to adult medicine should occur no later than ages 18 to 21 years.1,2 This transition of care (ie, structured and planned transfer) from adolescent medicine to adult medicine for chronic medical conditions and routine checkups is becoming more challenging, however.3,4

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References

1. World Health Organization. Recognizing adolescence. https://apps.who.int/adolescent/second-decade/section2/page1/recognizing-adolescence.html. Accessed May 6, 2022.
 
2. American Academy of Pediatrics; American Academy of Family Physicians; American College of Physicians; Transitions Clinical Report Authoring Group, et al. Supporting the health care transition from adolescence to adulthood in the medical home. Pediatrics 2011;128:182–200.
 
3. Touraine P, Polak M. Challenges of the transition from pediatric care to care of adults: “say goodbye, say hello”. Endocr Dev 2018;33:1–9.
 
4. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Transitions of care from pediatric to adult services for children with special healthcare needs. https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/transitions-care-pediatric-adult/protocol. Published November 19, 2020. Accessed May 6, 2022.
 
5. Schraeder K, Allemang B, Scott C, et al. Primary care during the transition to adult care for adolescents involved with pediatric specialty services: a scoping review protocol. Syst Rev 2021;10:46.
 
6. White PH, Cooley WC; Transitions Clinical Report Authoring Group; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Academy of Family Physicians; American College of Physicians. Supporting the health care transition from adolescence to adulthood in the medical home. Pediatrics 2018;142:e20182587.
 
7. Gray WN, Schaefer MR, Resmini-Rawlinson A, et al. Barriers to transition from pediatric to adult care: a systematic review. J Pediatr Psychol 2018;43: 488–502.
 
8. White P, Schmidt A, Shorr J, et al. Six core elements: transitioning youth to an adult health care clinician. For use by pediatric, family medicine, and med-peds clinicians. https://www.gottransition.org/6ce/?leaving-full-package. Published July 2020. Accessed May 6, 2022.