Defense Date

11-30-2022

Graduation Date

Fall 12-16-2022

Submission Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program

School

School of Nursing

Faculty Mentor

Mary C. Loughran

Keywords

program evaluation, health care transition from pediatric to adult care, youth with special health care needs, transition to adult care, transferring to adult care, transfer to adult care, pediatric transition to adult care

Abstract

With medical, surgical, and technological advances, children with childhood diseases with special health care needs (SHCNs) are surviving and living into adulthood (Cohen et al., 2014). Health care transition (HCT) should be a process through which youth are expected to achieve the skills necessary to manage their health as adults (Sawicki et al., 2017). HCT should be a purposeful, organized, and coordinated process involving the youth, family, and health care team (Stringer et al., 2015; Gabriel et al., 2017; White et al., 2018). Evidence supports that adolescents and young adults with SHCNs are often unprepared for transition (Jensen et al., 2017; White et al., 2018).

The HCT process at this specialty clinic in Los Angeles, California, that treats patients with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) diagnoses requested a process evaluation of their HCT from pediatric-centric to adult medical care according to the American Academy of Pediatrics on HCT guidelines (Cooley et al., 2011; White et al., 2018). A process evaluation was completed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the HCT process and recommendations for improvement based on stakeholders' input. Substantial deficiencies were identified in transition preparation for an already vulnerable patient population. The findings from this project accentuate the need for more consideration for purposeful transition planning of pediatric patients with SHCNs.

Language

English

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