Transition to adult services for children and young people with palliative care needs: a systematic review

Synopsis:

This article from the “Archives of Disease in Childhood” is unable to provide any concrete review of the evidence on transition care for pediatric palliative care patients (because of the lack of data), however it does give insight into the gap in research on this subject and would be useful for researchers who are considering studies related to this subject.

Objective:   To evaluate the evidence on the transition process from child to adult services for young people with palliative care needs.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Child and adult services and interface between healthcare providers.

Patients: Young people aged 13–24 years with palliative care conditions in the process of transition.

Main outcome measures: Young people and their families’ experiences of transition, the process of transition between services and its impact on
continuity of care and models of good practice.
Conclusions: Palliative care was not, in itself, a useful concept for locating transition-related evidence. It is not possible to evaluate the merits of the various transition models for palliative care contexts, or their effects on continuity of care, as there are no long-term outcome data to measure their effectiveness. Use of validated outcome measures would facilitate research and service development.

Source:

Journal: Disease in Childhood

Vol/Page/Date:

Arch Dis Child 2011 96: 78-84 originally published online November 30, 2009

Resource Type:

Journal Article

Author/Source:

M Doug, Y Adi, J Williams, et al.