Streamlining the transition from pediatric to adult care

• Reason for transition.
• Diabetes type.
• Degree of diabetes control.
• Type of insulin therapy and supplies.
• Current and former insulin regimen: reasons for discontinuation of any therapies or reluctance to start any therapies.
• Diabetes health maintenance.
• Social history and support, including living situation, main social support network, child protective services involvement.
• Other pertinent medical surgical history, including psychiatric disease.

Tips and takeaways

Top of the list of takeaways is that you should make the final document work for you, your colleagues, and ultimately, your patients – customize it as you see fit, but be sure to keep it short and easy to fill out. Make a note as you start using it in practice of what you think might be missing from the chart and whether updates are needed. If you can, it’s a great idea to fold the transfer summary into the electronic medical record, though it’s not imperative. Care coordination is key to successful transfer of patients, whether from pediatric to adult care or hospital to home. A small change to work flow can result in a huge change in patient and provider satisfaction, as well as a reduction in visit times.
 

Dr. Agarwal is director of the Supporting Emerging Adults With Diabetes (SEAD) program at Montefiore Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. She reports no disclosures or financial conflicts of interest. Write to her at cenews@mdedge.com.