Letting go/ moving on: A scoping review of relational effects on transition to adult care.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to assess the extent of the literature on how relational components in pediatric care contribute to the transition process and transfer outcomes.

Background: Relationships between patients, parents and pediatric providers are a frequently cited barrier in transition to adult care. A scoping review aimed to identify studies focused on how the relationship between patients/parents and pediatric providers related to transition from pediatric to adult healthcare and explore the nature and depth of the evidence.

IBD Camp Oasis: A look at Participants' Social-Emotional Well-Being and Protective Factors During Camp and Beyond.

Background: Camp Oasis is an annual week-long camp serving children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and hosted by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Youth with IBD are at increased risk for mental health challenges, with Camp Oasis potentially mitigating these risks. The aim of this study is to measure change in and predictors of social-emotional well-being and protective factors of self-worth as a result of attending Camp Oasis.

Care coordination in pediatric health care settings: the critical role of social work.

: Care coordination (CC) is integral to improving health care quality. Research on CC by health care social workers (HSWs) in pediatric health care settings is limited. This paper aims to operationalize and quantify CC functions fulfilled by HSWs in one large urban pediatric hospital.

Creation of Experience-based Celiac Benchmarks: The First Step in Pretransition Self-management Assessment.

Objectives: Transition planning for children with chronic disease includes the development of independence in many self-management tasks. Conditions that depend on diet have distinct skill sets not well assessed by the traditional transition-readiness tools. There has been literature that describes age-appropriate skill acquisition for diabetes and food allergy patients.

Social workers as care coordinators: Leaders in ensuring effective, compassionate care.

The concept of care coordination is at the forefront of national conversations in the context of health care reform. As pediatric social workers, we are interested in how care coordination benefits our patients, and which disciplines are providing coordination services. We have determined that significant overlap exists between the work social workers are already doing in inpatient and outpatient medical settings and the literature's definition of care coordination activities.

Coping with college and inflammatory bowel disease: implications for clinical guidance and support.

Background: Studies have shown that young adults with chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), experience greater difficulty during the transition to college, reaching lower levels of educational attainment and reporting greater levels of perceived stress than their otherwise-healthy peers. We performed a qualitative study to better understand how underlying illness shapes the college experience for patients with IBD and how the college experience, in turn, impacts disease management.

Methods: Fifteen college students with IBD were recruited from the Boston Children's Hospital Center for IBD.

Provider awareness alone does not improve transition readiness skills in adolescent patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: Adolescent patients with chronic health conditions must gradually assume responsibility for their health. Self-management skills are needed for a successful transfer from adolescent to adult health care, but the development of these skills could be resource intensive. Pediatric providers are already instrumental in teaching patients about their health and may improve these skills.

Impact of Educational Cartoon on Pediatric Bowel Preparation Quality at Time of Colonoscopy.

Objective: To evaluate if addition of educational cartoon to pediatric bowel preparation instructions improves the quality of bowel preparation and patient experience.

Methods: Patients were randomized to control group receiving standard bowel preparation instructions or intervention group receiving additional educational cartoon. To objectively rate bowel preparation, a blinded endoscopist completed numeric Ottawa score (0-14, with 0 being best).

Social workers as transition brokers: facilitating the transition from pediatric to adult medical care.

Transition from pediatric to adult medical care and the significant psychosocial considerations impacting this developmental process are a primary focus in health care today. Social workers are often the informal brokers of this complex and nuanced process and are uniquely trained to complete biopsychosocial assessments to understand the needs of patients and families and address psychosocial factors. Their extensive knowledge of resources and systems, along with their sophisticated understanding of the relationship issues, family dynamics, cultural implications, and basic person-in-context approach allow for unique collaboration with the health care team, family, and community supports to develop successful transition plans and programs.

When independent healthcare behaviors develop in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: Patients with chronic health needs are expected to gradually assume responsibility for health maintenance behavior as they move toward adulthood. We sought to evaluate the influence of factors such as age, duration of disease, and gender by examining the self-reported health behaviors of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: Confidential voluntary surveys were administered to all IBD outpatients over age 10 during a 4-month period.

Medication knowledge: an initial step in self-management for youth with inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: Adolescents with chronic illness need to develop skills to independently manage their own health. Knowledge of medication is an early step in this process. We explored which factors affect acquisition of medication knowledge in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Self-management of older adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease: a pilot study of behavior and knowledge as prelude to transition.

Objective: Patients gradually assume responsibility for self-management. This study sought to determine whether adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have developed key skills of self-management prior to the age at which many transfer to adult care.

Patients And Methods: Adolescents aged 16 to 18 years old in the Children's Hospital Boston IBD database (94 total) received a mailed survey assessing knowledge and confidence of their own health information and behaviors.

Transition of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease from pediatric to adult care: a survey of adult gastroenterologists.

Objectives: Transition of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from pediatric to adult providers requires preparation. Gastroenterologists for adult patients ("adult gastroenterologists") may have expectations of patients that are different from those of pediatric patients. We sought to explore the perspectives of adult gastroenterologists caring for adolescents and young adults with IBD, to improve preparation for transition.

Effective advocacy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease: communication with insurance companies, school administrators, employers, and other health care overseers.

In addition to their physical challenges, children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) living in the United States face a number of administrative and regulatory hurdles that affect their quality of life. This article, written by a physician, attorney/patient advocate, and social worker, discusses a number of these challenges and describes how the provider can help his or her patient overcome them. Specifically, the article discusses 4 areas in detail: appeals of denials of coverage from insurance companies and third party payors; assisting children with IBD with classroom and school accommodations; assisting uninsured children in obtaining Social Security benefits; and aiding a parent to care for their child using the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Educate, communicate, anticipate-practical recommendations for transitioning adolescents with IBD to adult health care.

The cyclical nature of chronic illness requires that children with inflammatory bowel disease be transitioned to the adult medical system with as much continuity of care as possible. Transition from pediatric to adult medical care continues to present significant barriers. The philosophy of transition centers on a process, with the actual transfer to adult care as a point along this clinical pathway.