The Montreal Children's Hospital is leading the way on the emerging issue of transition of care

Media invitation – Bridging the Gap between Pediatric & Adult Care

The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC is organizing a two-day conference about the emerging medical field known as Transition of Care. The focus of the two-day event is on how to best meet the needs of teenagers and young adults as they move from pediatric to adult care. The conference will be held on October 12 and 13, 2006, at the Mount Royal Centre in downtown Montreal. Health Minister M. Phillippe Couillard will attend and will deliver the opening address. In addition, young adults and the parents of children with chronic diseases will attend.

The Montreal Children's Hospital is an integral part of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and is therefore uniquely positioned to share and develop expertise in the developing field of Transition of Care. Topics to be discussed at the conference will address the evolution and readiness of health care services to support the transition of care from pediatric to adult medicine. Teenagers, who still have complex needs, must face leaving behind the highly specialized supportive and embracing environment they received in the pediatric system and have to deal with a new medical team in a new, more autonomous environment. Another issue of concern is that health professionals in the adult health system may be unfamiliar with various medical conditions that originate during childhood.

"Just as the Montreal Children's joined forces with the MUHC, all across Canada and North America pediatric institutions are merging with their adult counterparts," says Aurore Côte, Medical Director of Outreach at the Montreal Children's Hospital and chair of the conference. "By working side by side with our adult counterparts, we can do much more together to meet the evolving needs of our patients."

Speakers at the conference are leading specialists from the Montreal Children's Hospital and other MUHC hospitals as well as from the fields of education and management. Coordinators of the Transition of Care program from across Canada are also participating. The conference, which also consists of a variety of workshops, will be held in both French and English, with simultaneous interpretation offered.

The conclusions and recommendations made during the conference will be the basis of a series of publications in a medical journal in 2007.

For more information, including a list of speakers and topics, go to: www.pedscourses-mch-mcgill.ca/transitions.

The conference is being funded in part by the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ministry of Health (Quebec).

For more information or to arrange a preconference interview, please contact: