Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/862008
A NEW TRANSITION MODEL BENEFITS TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES WHO ARE MOVING FROM PEDIATRIC TO ADULT CARE, RESEARCHERS SAY. MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF TR ANSITIONING DIABETIC YOUNG PEOPLE TO ADULT CARE BY HANNAH STUART PROFE SSIONAL SOCIETIE S OFFER recommendations for guiding adolescents through that transition, and individual pediatric practices have tailored their own approaches. However, no standardized national guidelines exist, compounding the challenges of continuity of care. "It is especially diffi cult to know how to prepare these youths as they transition because insurance changes [when they move for work] ... and they can't necessarily go to t he prov ider t heir pediatricia n recommended," says Shivani Agarwal, MD, MPH, Director of the Diabetes Transition Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania's Rodebaugh Diabetes Center. " There's resea rch on patient perspective from before a nd a f ter the tra nsition ... that shows that there are very diff erent aspects of transition care that patients wish they had gotten, depending on whether they are anticipating transfer or they have actua lly tra nsferred. Those who have transferred really just wanted very basic things — the name of an adult provider [and an explanation of ] diff erences of the adult care system." A COST-EFFECTIVE MODEL The lack of a sta nda rdized tra nsition s y s t em pr ompt e d D r. A ga r w a l a nd col lea g ues t o creat e a nd t es t a new a nd easily adoptable model, which they repor ted on recent ly in T he D iabetes E d u c a t o r. T h e s t u d y i n c l u d e d 7 2 pa r ticipa nts — a ll of whom have Ty pe 1 SPECIAL CLINICAL SECTION: PEDIATRICS 1 6