Improving Lives. Changing Futures.
The Chronic Illness Management Program at Children’s Specialized Hospital is a comprehensive inpatient program for adolescents and young adults who struggle to manage their medical diagnosis.
The program provides a structured, comprehensive treatment plan to address medical, nutritional, psychological, and family communication. Since parents and caregivers have a crucial role in supporting their child’s health, we emphasize parent/caregiver participation in medical education, nutritional and psychological counseling sessions to ensure the greatest success. The principal goal of the program is to ensure a healthy transition back into the community. We help patients work with their outpatient medical treatment team, school, and community-based agencies to ensure success once they return home.
This program is for adolsecents and young adults with chronic medical conditions, such as:
- Asthma
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Diabetes
- HIV/AIDS
- Obesity
- Pre- and Post-Organ Transplants
- Sickle Cell Disease
- Other chronic medical illnesses considered on an individual basis
The Chronic Illness Management Program is typically a four-week program that follows a multidisciplinary approach to care, that addresses the physical, emotional, and psychosocial needs of each patient. The goal for each patient is always to improve self-management of the disease at a developmentally appropriate level, by improving adherence to medical routine/regimen and lifestyle changes.
The team approach includes:
- Direct instruction to develop new skills/knowledge
- Experiential learning (i.e., cooking group, daily exercise)
- Generalization of skills across activities and settings
- Medication education
- Scheduled education
- Shaping of appropriate behavior
- Structured nutritional counseling and instruction
- Supportive psychological counseling
- Use of visual tools
- Family education and counseling
- Psychological and educational testing, as indicated, to identify learning issues
Continuous glucose monitoring is available for diabetes patients in combination with focus on gaining metabolic control. Together, this represents a powerful vehicle for making effective and informed changes in each individual's diabetes care.