Best Practices in Managing Transition to Adulthood for Adolescents With Congenital Heart Disease: The Transition Process and Medical and Psychosocial Issues

Improving Transitions of Care for Young Adults With Congenital Heart Disease: Mobile App Development Using Formative Research (Preprint)

“…It was conducted as part of a quality improvement project for adolescents with varying degrees of CHD (mild to severe), to improve their experience when transitioning from a pediatric cardiologist to an adult cardiologist. The clinical quality improvement project was based on the "got transition" website [37], the American Heart Association's best practices for transitioning adolescents with CHD [13], and an ongoing randomized control trial for transitioning adolescents with CHD. [10] The formative research included a literature review, parent and adolescent interviews, and discussions with two expert panels.…”

“…[11] Disparities in the medical care provided to the growing CHD adolescent survivor population involves: (1) poor care transition (an age and developmentally appropriate process, addressing the medical, psychosocial and educational/vocational aspects of care) from child-centered to adult-centered healthcare [8] [ 12] and (2) lack of appropriate transfer of care (the point at which an adult cardiac provider assumes the medical care of a CHD patient). [1,2,[12][13][14] Lack of assessment of transition readiness (TR) (the capacity of the adolescent and medical team to initiate and successfully complete the transition process) [15,16], compounds disparities in quality care. [17] Disparities become further magnified in ethnic minorities.…”

“…[17] Disparities become further magnified in ethnic minorities. [4][5][6][7][8]13,18] Beyond healthcare access, disease knowledge, and TR, studies show a mentoring relationship (MR) [19][20][21] for adolescents with chronic disease is crucial for successful transition to adult care. [22] The transition period is a vulnerable time for adolescents with CHD, and many drop out of active health care.…”

Health Care Transitions for Adolescents and Young Adults With Special Health Care Needs: Where Are We Now?

“…Several reviews have identified worse health care outcomes among adolescents and young adults with special health care needs who did not transition appropriately. [12][13][14][15] Other studies have evaluated the benefits of adequate health care transitions for these individuals. Benefits often associated with adequate transitions include reduced medical complications, improved patient-reported outcomes, greater adherence to care, positive patient experience and lower cost of health care.…”

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Single-Ventricle Patients Palliated with Fontan Procedure: Future Consideration

“…Re-do sternotomy and minimal experience of adult cardiothoracic surgery teams in performing CABG in single-ventricle patients previously palliated by Fontan procedure are two other examples. These issues and others were addressed to some extent in the literature, and their solutions have been proposed and implemented [11,13]. Hybrid teams consisting of adult and congenital cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons may be the ideal team to manage these patients in the operating room and the immediate post-operative period.…”