Patient and family perspective of a Pre-Transition Visit in a pediatric tertiary care diabetes clinic

Introduction The need to better prepare youth with type 1 diabetes for the transition from paediatric to adult care is evident. As part of a regional quality improvement initiative, a novel Pre-Transition (Pre-T) Visit was developed and piloted at a paediatric tertiary care centre in January 2018 for patients aged 15–18 years to capture the status of their self-management skills, introduce transition tools and identify self-care goals and knowledge gaps to be addressed prior to transition.

Purpose To evaluate patient and family satisfaction, visit relevance and patient engagement with a novel Pre-T Visit.

Methods From May 2019 to March 2020 a survey was offered to all youth who attended a Pre-T Visit and their parent(s)/caregiver(s). Patient and family satisfaction with, relevance of and engagement with the Pre-T Visit were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Multivariable regression was used to assess patient factors associated with patient level satisfaction.

Results Of the 63 youth who participated in a Pre-T Visit, 60 completed the survey. Mean age (SD) of participants was 16.7 (0.8) years; 47% were female. Mean (SD) haemoglobin A1C (A1C) was 8.2% (1.8). Patients reported high levels of satisfaction (95% quite or extremely satisfied) that were consistent across age, A1C, gender and disease duration. Visit relevance and engagement were also rated highly by youth. Parent participants (n=27) also reported high levels of satisfaction (89% quite or extremely satisfied) and relevance.

Conclusions Pre-T Visits were rated highly by patients and their parents. Their impact on glycaemic control and health outcomes following transition requires further study.