IRCM ethics experts study the transition from paediatric to adult health care services
In a study published February 3, 2014 by the medical journal Paediatrics & Child Health, IRCM and McGill researchers address shortcomings in transitional care in the Canadian healthcare system. The team led by Eric Racine and Emily Bell, Montréal neuroethics experts and adjunct professors in McGill’s Faculty of Medicine, identified important challenges in the transition from paediatric to adult health care, especially among youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities (such as autism spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and cerebral palsy).“Health care transition is a crucial process in the lives of youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their parents,” explains Dr. Racine, Director of the Neuroethics research unit at the IRCM. “Transition challenges are likely to be greater among these adolescents because of the complexity of their health care needs and the stigma associated with physical and intellectual disabilities that may accompany their disorders. Some individuals believe they were suddenly removed from paediatric care and thrust into a foreign system for which they had not been adequately prepared.”
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February 4, 2014