Provider’s perspectives regarding transitional urologic care process: A scoping review

Objective

To generate a scoping review that summarizes perceptions and attitudes of urology providers towards the transitional urologic care process. Likewise, summarize their identified barriers, facilitators, and ideal transition care for patients with genitourinary conditions.

Method

A systematic literature search was performed in Oct 2021. Records were identified for studies relevant to assessing urology specialists' practice variation, perception of barriers, and attitudes toward transitional care of patients needing life-long urologic care. The methodological quality of the cross-sectional studies was assessed using AXIS. The information extracted was clustered according to identified themes from the included studies. This scoping review was part of a systematic review registered on PROSPERO-(CRD42022306229).

Results

A total of 641 records were retrieved from electronic medical databases and cross-referencing. Ultimately, ten studies were included in this scoping review, conducted in the USA (n = 7), Canada, United Kingdom, and Italy. There is a wide variation in transitional care practices and preferences. However, the common themes extracted were: appropriate age to start the transition, additional training of the providers involved in transitional care, common transition plans, and practices, characteristics of multidisciplinary teams, potential barriers, areas of improvement, or facilitators for a better transitional process.

Conclusion

Common to all reports, multiple barriers are perceived. Areas that require improvement and multidisciplinary systems are needed to enhance urologic transition care. In addition, factors such as the age cut-off between pediatric and adult care or which specialist should handle specific procedures and conditions before, during, and after transition are still unclear and typically depend on the stakeholders.