Transitional care

Abstract

Transitional care is described as an essential process referring to the transfer of the young adolescent from paediatric to the adult health care setting. This literature review aimed to explore the views regarding transitional care amongst nurses. The main objectives were to explore the quality of transitional care, currently provided in a general hospital in Malta and to identify the factors which may enhance and inhibit the quality of transitional care delivered by nurses' as perceived by nurses themselves. The nurses' recommendations and suggestions pertaining to more efficient and effective transitional care are explored. A survey questionnaire was used to explore the value of transitional care from nurses' perspective. The self-administered questionnaire entitled "Health care professionals' views of transition of care from the child to adult health service for adolescents with chronic conditions" was developed by Por et al, 2004 and used previously in various studies overseas. The questionnaires was distributed amongst the whole population of nurses (N=30) working on a full time basis on three wards, (two of which were paediatric and an adult setting), at a public general hospital in Malta. A response rate of 66% (n=20) was attained. This features comprised the main strengths of the study. No inducement was offered for participation. Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered. Data acquired from the open-ended questions was analyzed manually using content analysis. The data suggests that nurses in Malta support the widely stated contention in the literature that transitional care requires maximum collaboration between the different members of the multidisciplinary team, especially across the doctors and nurses. However, few of the nurses participating in this study claimed to have contributed to, or participated to transitional care delivery. Moreover, few had engaged themselves in discussing issues that arose in this aspect of care. The data presents various hindering and promoting factors, and a number of suggestions and recommendations which may translate into enhanced quality of care in this respect. A decisive suggestion brought forward by participants was the development of a ward, or part of a ward, which would exclusively accommodate young adult/adolescents. The main recommendation was the provision of training opportunities, and conferences which would seek to equip health care professionals with the skills needed for effective transitional care. The need for further research, which would explore the views of others involved in transitional care, that is the other health care professionals, the adolescents and the parents, was clearly indicated in the data. The main limitation of this study stood with the fact that the views of nurses, only, were explored.