Abstract

The importance of successfully transitioning pediatric patients to adult care is increasingly recognized across a wide range of health care providers. However, there are still many challenges occurring during the transition phase. This presentation will contribute to these challenges by sharing the journey of a young person with arthritis on the transition to adult care.

As a young patient with arthritis, I made the journey from pediatric care to adult care a couple of years ago. I am diagnosed with arthritis since I was 14 years old. In this presentation, I will show the experiences of my own transition. Furthermore, as the chair of Youth-R-Well.com, an organization for young people with RMDs in the Netherlands, I will share some of the main points around transition I learned from other young patients. For every person, the transition to adult care is experienced different. Therefore, I will try to give some main answers from personal journeys on the questions: How is the transition experienced by a young patient? What are the current challenges faced by a young patient during the transition? What should be the role of the parents during the transition? What are best practices for the transition to adult care?