Pediatric HIV clinicians should instigate a well-structured plan to transition adolescent patients into adult care, MedPage Today reports. Publishing their report in Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics described the major areas of planning that care providers need to instigate to ensure that young adults with HIV are not lost to care and are best prepared to remain healthy, high-functioning adults.

The report outlines four key steps pediatric clinicians should observe as adolescents transition to adult HIV care. There should be a written transition plan. Care providers should inform children about their HIV status and begin discussing the future transition by age 12. The actual transition should take place between the ages of 18 and 25. And once the transition has been completed, providers should both document and evaluate its effects.

Components of the written transition plan should include documentation to assist the adult provider’s team. The plan should also have in place measures by which to track the young person to ensure he or she is not lost to care. The pediatric team should communicate directly with the adult HIV provider, giving that person a letter of transition, as well as pertinent health records.

In addition, providers should evaluate the young person’s needs in the realms of education, employment and social services requirements.

To read the MedPage Today story, click here.
 
To read the report, click here.