Purpose: The aims of this study were (1) to review the current body of knowledge on the transition experiences of adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and appraise the evidence available on transfer summary tools, (2) to develop guidelines for the successful transition of adolescents with OI from child to adult healthcare services, and (3) to create a transfer tool tailored to adolescents with OI.
Design and methods: This knowledge synthesis study was overseen by an interprofessional expert task force at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Canada and entailed (1) review of the literature, (2) development of guidelines, and (3) creation of a tool.
Results: The tool was created from evidence compiled from case reports, clinical examples, and nonexperimental studies.
Conclusion: The transfer tool proposes guidelines designed to facilitate a smooth transition from child to adult healthcare services. It also offers creation of a clinically meaningful, person-focused, OI transfer tool that may in turn help improve the transition experience for adolescents. This study significantly contributes to the dearth of literature on transition experiences in OI and on transfer tools in general. Future research is needed to evaluate the implementation and evaluation of the OI transfer tool in practice.