Has this ever happened to you? You are an adult neurologist who has been asked to take on the care of a pediatric neurology patient. The patient who comes to your clinic is a 20-year-old young woman with a history of moderate developmental delay and intractable epilepsy. She is on numerous medications including valproic acid with a previous trial of the ketogenic diet. You receive a report that she has focal epilepsy and is having frequent seizures and last had an MRI at age 2 years. Prior notes talk about her summer vacations but not much about the future plans for her epilepsy. You see the patient in clinic, and the family is not happy to be in the adult clinic. They are disappointed that you don’t spend more time with them or fill out myriad forms. You find out that they have not obtained legal guardianship for their daughter and have no plan for work placement after school. She also has various other medical comorbidities that were previously addressed by the pediatric neurologist.
Why does this happen? When patients are simply transferred instead of transitioned between providers as they get too old to be seen by pediatric specialists, the process often does not go smoothly. A true transition of care prepares the patient and the family to understand the underlying disease and everything that goes along with it to be able to successfully seek appropriate care as they move into the adult world.
There is a not much evidence on the right way to do this. In 2013, the American Epilepsy Society approved a Transition Tool that is helpful in outlining the steps for a successful transition, and in 2016, the Child Neurology Foundation put forth a consensus statement with eight principles to guide a successful transition. Transitions are an expectation of good care and they recommend that a written policy be present for all offices.
Talking about transitioning should start as early as 10-12 years of age and should be discussed every year. Thinking about prognosis and a realistic plan for each child as they enter adult life is important. Patients and families should be able to understand how the disease affects them, what their medications are and how to independently obtain them, what comorbidities are associated with their disease, how to stay healthy, how to improve their quality of life, and how to advocate for themselves. As children become teenagers they should have a concrete plan for ongoing education, work, women’s issues, and an understanding of decision-making capacity and whether legal guardianship or a power of attorney needs to be implemented.
When the pediatric epilepsy patient reaches young adulthood (18 years or older), the adult model of care should be implemented, even if they are still seen in the pediatric setting. A transition packet should be created that includes a summary of the diagnosis, work-up, previous treatments, and considerations for future treatments and emergency care. Also included is a plan for who will continue to address any non–seizure-related diagnoses the pediatric neurologist may have been managing. The patient and family also have an opportunity to review and contribute to this. This packet enables the adult neurologist to easily understand all issues and assume care of the patient, easing this aspect of the transition.
An advance meeting of the patient and family with the adult provider should be arranged whenever possible. To address this, some centers are now creating a transition clinic staffed by both pediatric and adult neurologists and/or nurses. This ideally takes place in the adult setting and is an excellent way to smooth the transition for the patient, family, and providers. Good transition is important to help prevent gaps in care, avoid reinventing the wheel, and improve satisfaction for everyone involved (patient, family, nurses, and neurologists). The key points are that transition discussions start early, patients and families should be involved and empowered in the process, and the creation of a transition packet for the adult provider is very helpful. Care transitions are something we will be hearing a lot more about in the upcoming years. And, hopefully, next time, the patient scenario seen above will go more smoothly!
Dr. Felton is an epilepsy specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Dr. Kelley is director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. This editorial reflects the content of a presentation given by Dr. Felton and Dr. Kelley at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in Houston. The authors report no conflict of interest.
