Danielle Andrade, MD, MSc: Ensuring Smooth Transitions to Adult Epilepsy Care
The professor of medicine, neurology, at the University of Toronto discussed the best ways for pediatric neurologists to ensure a smooth transition of care for patients with epilepsy who are leaving the pediatric system.
“Do things step by step. You don’t have to do everything [for the transition] when the patient is 17 years old. Actually, you shouldn’t be doing everything when the patient is 17 or close to their last visit in the pediatric system. Things should be done slowly as the patient is growing up.”
Transitioning a patient with epilepsy from pediatric care to adult care is a challenge for not only the patient, who is losing their physician, but for the physicians involved in actually transitioning the patient. Danielle Andrade, MD, MSc, told NeurologyLive that “it is impossible for one person to do everything,” and that oftentimes, a team of health care professionals is involved.
Andrade, an adult neurologist and professor of medicine, neurology, at the University of Toronto, discussed the transition process at the
She noted that—outside of certain particularly difficult to manage epilepsies—having a summarized version of the trajectory of the disease and the patient’s responses to medications to provide the new physician, in place of volumes of charts, is certainly helpful.
For more coverage of IEC 2019,
REFERENCE
Andrade D. The need for transition programs. Presented at: 2019 International Epilepsy Congress. June 22-26, 2019; Bangkok, Thailand. Presentation 71.
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