Dr. Hope O'Brien presents Transitioning to Adult Migraine Care for the American Migraine Foundation
Transitioning to Adult Migraine Care Webinar Recap
What to know about transitioning a child from pediatric migraine care to adult migraine care
If you spend any time in migraine support groups, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that migraine affects people of all ages, including 11% of children. But what happens when those children become teenagers and then adults? To provide help and guidance for people in these sorts of transitions, the American Migraine Foundation recently hosted a webinar titled “Transitioning to Adult Migraine Care,” where headache specialist Dr. Hope O’Brien discussed best practices for adolescents and young adults living with migraine.
Before running her own practice, Headache Center of Hope, Dr. O’Brien developed the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s young adult program to help adolescent and young adult patients transition into adult care.
The transition from adolescent to adult is critical, especially for those affected by migraine. Research studies suggest that discussions with patients, families and providers should start when the patient is as young as 13 years of age. This allows for both patient and caregiver to understand all that is required for transition.
Dr. O’Brien breaks down transition of care into three phases: transition planning, patient education and transfer readiness.
Transition planning
In transition planning, the goal is to expand the patient's personal knowledge of their condition and introduce skills for self-advocacy.
Patient education
Patient education is defined as having a basic understanding of the healthcare system, including how medical coverage with insurance works. This is important, especially if there is an upcoming change in coverage, which could hinder the process of health maintenance..
Transition readiness
Transition readiness is a measure of whether a patient is ready to be in control of their own care.
