EXPLORING TRANSITION
link once the young person enters
the adult health system.
¡¡ Encourage your teenager to be
proactive; to find out about the adult
system and how to access services,
including applying for their own
Medicare or healthcare card.
In the active phase (16 to 18 years), there
are several important steps to complete.
Having a checklist sometimes helps to
organise the process. Your clinical team will:
¡¡ develop an individual transition plan
with you
¡¡ provide information about the adult services
¡¡ arrange a visit to the adult clinic if possible.
Some clinics provide joint transition clinics
where paediatric and adult teams come
together for clinical handover and an
opportunity to meet families
¡¡ provide a comprehensive referral letter
to adult services well before your first
appointment, with a copy for you and
your GP
¡¡ arrange your first appointment or provide
information on how to do this
¡¡ provide information about community
support services
¡¡ provide a referral to the Transition
Coordinator in the relevant adult hospital
¡¡ provide other information and resources
¡¡ follow up to ensure that transition is
proceeding as planned.
Some children’s hospitals, including the
SCHN, have an annual graduation event – a
greatly anticipated celebration of the young
person’s time with us, the relationships
formed along the way, and to farewell their
current teams and to welcome the new ones.
How can parents help?
Parents and caregivers play a vital role in
planning and supporting transition, but it can
be difficult to ‘let go’ as adolescents learn to
become independent. For those young people
with developmental disability, this becomes
even more complex; however, facilitating
and assessing realistic goals around what is
possible supports the transition process.
Talk to your son or daughter about his or
her condition and the healthcare he or she
will need as an adult, so that your child feels
comfortable talking to others about it.
¡¡ Discuss the long-term effects of
your adolescent’s health condition –
encourage his or her goals.
¡¡ Support decision making by offering
choices to promote responsibility and
independence.
¡¡ Encourage your adolescent to write
down any questions to ask the doctor
and healthcare team.
¡¡ Encourage planning ahead and
accept your changing role in his or her
healthcare management.
Links/Resources
¡¡ SCHN Trapeze Manager
Madeleine Bridgett
E: [email protected]
www.trapeze.org.au
¡¡ ACI Transition Care Network Manager
Lynne Brodie
E: [email protected]
http://bit.ly/1l8bL5K
¡¡ ChIPS Program
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Dept of Adolescent Medicine
Coordinator: Ann-Marie Perry
E: [email protected]
¡¡ Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick
http://www.sch.edu.au/
¡¡ Kaleidoscope, Hunter Children’s
Health Network
www.kaleidoscope.org.au
For a checklist to assist in the medical
transition of your teen and all references
contained in this article, please refer to
www.exploringteens.com.
au/#!medical-transitions/c1st1
Associate Professor Susan Towns MBBS MMH FRACP is
a Consultant Paediatrician and Adolescent Physician and
Head of Adolescent Medicine the Sydney Children’s Hospital
Network and Clinical Associate Professor, Discipline of
Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney.
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