Published online Oct 15, 2014. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v5.i5.630
Revised: March 29, 2014
Accepted: June 18, 2014
Published online: October 15, 2014
Diabetes mellitus is a complex condition with far reaching physical, psychological and psychosocial effects. These outcomes can be significant when considering the care of a youth transferring from paediatric through to adult diabetes services. The art of mastering a smooth care transfer is crucial if not pivotal to optimising overall diabetic control. Quite often the nature of consultation varies between the two service providers and the objectives and outcomes will mirror this. The purpose of this review is to analyse the particular challenges and barriers one might expect to encounter when transferring these services over to an adult care provider. Particular emphasis is paid towards the psychological aspects of this delicate period, which needs to be recognised and appreciated appropriately in order to understand the particular plights a young diabetic child will be challenged with. We explore the approaches that can be positively adopted in order to improve the experience for child, parents and also the multi- disciplinary team concerned with the overall delivery of this care. Finally we will close with reflection on the potential areas for future development that will ultimately aim to improve long-term outcomes and experiences of the young adolescent confronted with diabetes as well as the burden of disease and burden of cost of disease.
Core tip: This manuscript is a comprehensive review of the challenges encountered during the transition of diabetes care from paediatric to adult diabetes services. Further we explore the structured transitional programs that could help in the smooth transition of diabetes care from the youth to early adulthood.