Transition Medicine

The RCPE has published new clinical guidance on Transition Medicine, ‘Think Transition: Developing the essential link between paediatric and adult care’ (November 2008).

This guidance is designed to raise awareness of the important issues facing young people as they move from paediatric to adult care, and to provide all concerned with practical support to improve their experiences. The RCPE believes it will be of wide interest to clinicians of all disciplines and in all healthcare settings and, of course, to young people and their families.

The guidance contains a number of recommendations on generic areas (including core principles, education, inequalities in health, remote and rural issues, and fertility and sexual health) and on disease- and patient-specific areas (cystic fibrosis, chronic renal disease, Type 1 diabetes and childhood cancer survivors.)

• Executive Summary

• Full Guidance Document

Contents

• Foreword
• Purpose and use
• Why it is important – report from the Young People’s Health Advisory Group
• Members of Steering Group
• Acknowledgements

Section 1 – Generic Issues

• Core principles
• Education and independence
• Ethical issues in transition
• Inequalities in health
• Remote and rural issues
• Fertility and sexual health

Section 2

• Cystic fibrosis
• Chronic renal disease
• Type 1 diabetes
• Childhood cancer survivors

An accompanying editorial has also been published in Issue 3, 2008 of The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh –

• Transition care – between a rock and a hard place

Print copies of the guidance document and Executive Summary have been distributed to every medical (including paediatric) consultant and to every General Practice in Scotland. If you have not received a copy, please download copies for your personal use above or e-mail g.mcalister@rcpe.ac.uk to request a hard copy.

The RCPE would like to thank the Children’s Research Fund for providing a research grant with which to support the development of this guidance.