Implementing a Nationally Recognized Pediatric-to-Adult Transitional Care Approach in a Major Children's Hospital

This editorial summarizes how a major children's hospital, with senior administration and medical leadership support and with social worker program direction, implemented a systemwide approach to transition to adult health care, following clinical recommendations and a nationally recognized transition approach. As the hospital staff incorporate transition planning into patient care, social work skills and services are incorporated at multiple levels: as part of care to patients and families, in clinic resource development, in networking with community adult health care partners, and in providing key management of the program. CMKCH's implementation experience underscores the breadth and complexity of the pediatricto- adult transition intervention and the necessity for collaboration across pediatric specialties and between pediatric and adult systems of care. Children's hospitals across the country may benefit fromthis innovative hospitalwide transition model for meeting the ever-increasing needs of transition-age youths and young adults, including those who are healthy and those with chronic conditions.