The transition from childhood to adulthood is full of uncertainty.
For adolescents with IBD, the transition from childhood medical services to unfamiliar adult services can be a drastic disruption to their much-needed care.
As a 17-year-old, Amelia found the sudden change to be daunting and overwhelming, and needed more support in her transition from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) to the RAH.
We know that when adolescent patients IBD, like Amelia, are not supported at this critical time, they can become disengaged in their care and treatment. This leads to progression of their disease, poor mental health, and complications such as hospitalisation and surgery.
Dr Kate Lynch, Head of IBD Services at the RAH, aims to form a new integrated transition pathway for young people with IBD to provide uninterrupted care and set them up for a lifetime of healthy disease control.
Dr Lynch and her colleagues have successfully conducted insightful research on integrating psychological care with in-hospital care for people with IBD and are now uncovering the challenges of the current transition experience. They aim to understand the relationship between satisfactory/unsatisfactory transition processes and clinical outcomes such as abdominal pain and mental health.
Dr Kate Lynch (right) with Research Coordinator, Charlotte Goess.