Evaluating Clinician Experience in Health Care Transition: Results From Six Health Systems.

Purpose: There is a paucity of evidence examining clinician experiences with structured health-care transition (HCT) programs. Among HCT Learning Collaborative participants, this study describes clinician experiences with implementation of a structured HCT process: Got Transition's 6 Core Elements.

Methods: Representative members from 6 health systems designed a survey to collect clinician feedback regarding HCT and demographic and practice information. The survey included adapted Got Transition Current Assessment of HCT Activities Level 4 and Clinician Feedback surveys as well as the following factors: clinical role, care setting, status, time involved in HCT process implementation, presence of champion, and partnership between pediatric and adult systems. Surveys were distributed across pediatric and adult clinical settings to 855 clinicians involved in HCT process implementation efforts during August and September 2022. Statistical analysis was performed to identify relationships between key clinician demographic data and responses on the survey.

Results: A total of 272 clinicians provided feedback (31% response rate) on implementing a structured HCT process. About two-thirds reported that fidelity to a structured HCT process was present. The 6 Core Elements most implemented processes included transition policy, tracking, and transition planning. The majority of clinicians agreed that a structured HCT process improves safety and quality of care, as well as both patient and clinician experiences. Time invested in HCT processes was significantly associated with securing senior leadership buy-in. Presence of an identifiable institutional HCT process improvement champion was significantly associated with positive clinician experiences.

Discussion: Clinicians found positive benefits in providing a structured HCT process using the 6 Core Elements and having a champion in their health system. They acknowledge that added time and continued investment in practice-wide HCT processes are needed.