Transitioning patients to adult care
Featuring Stacy Vandenbranden, MS, APN-CNP, Pulmonary Medicine
Stacy Vandenbranden, APN-CPNP for Pulmonary Medicine at Children’s MemorialHospital loves her job. “There is nothing I would rather be doing more than being a nurse.”
With an extensive background in adolescent and pediatric care and nearly 10 years with Children’s Memorial, Stacy finds that the best part of being a nurse is also the hardest part — it’s the investment caregivers make in the patients and their families. Stacy and her team work closely with cystic fibrosis patients and may regularly interact with the same patients and families throughout their time with Children’s Memorial.
She may see a patient from infancy through adolescence until they transition from pediatric care to adult care. “The one constant throughout the process,” Stacy says, “is that we stress the importance of independence. The family is so closely tied to the needs of their loved one that it’s easy to overlook the fact that their child will be on his own one day and needs to be able to make decisions and take care of himself.”
“Transitioning doesn’t necessarily start at one single point in time,” she adds. “It starts from the beginning as you prepare for the future. At Children’s Memorial, we begin preparing patients for transitioning as early as the age of four or five.”
Transitioning patients from pediatric to adult care is a group effort. Parents, caregivers, the patients and the medical staff need to be involved every step of the way. Stacy and her coworkers start by using real terms and not made-up names for medical terminology. She encourages patients to take an active role in knowing their medical histories so they will be comfortable and competent in taking care of themselves one day.
This process can be scary for patients who may be letting go of their childhood reliance on parents and their pediatric health care providers. But sometimes it’s the parents who struggle the most. Stacy and her team gradually reduce the amount of parental involvement during visits and coach the parents on how to help their children with practical living techniques.
“I tell parents they need to work themselves out of a job,” Stacy says. “It’s okay to let your children make mistakes along the way.”
She adds that her job as a nurse is to honor the trust of her patients and their families and to provide them with support. “You give what you can give for today and it’s the patients that keep you coming back to give more."
[Note: This article is included in the 2008 Nursing Report.]