The article, “Health Care Transition for Adolescents with CKD—The Journey From Pediatric to Adult Care,” was published in Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease.
Maria Ferris, MD, MPH, PhD, has co-authored an article published last week in Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease (Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages 384-390, September 2011), “Health Care Transition for Adolescents with CKD—The Journey From Pediatric to Adult Care.”
In this article, Dr. Ferris and her colleagues discuss the challenges facing adolescents with end-stage kidney disease as their medical care changes hands from pediatric to adult practitioners. As children with kidney disease begin to emerge as young adults, they need to become self-managers of their own health. This transition requires teamwork between the pediatric and adult-focused health care teams in order to be successful. Dedicated transition coordinators have been very useful in helping adolescents make the shift in their health care by acting as a link between the patient and the health professionals involved.
This article outlines the goals of obtaining the best health outcomes and maintaining quality of life, and offers key strategies for planning successful health care transition from child to adult for this vulnerable group of patients.
Click here to read the abstract for the article published in Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease