The Berlin Transition Program. A sector-spanning structural program for the transition of adolescents with chronic illness to specialized adult medicine

Commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health, an expert opinion was drawn up in Germany in 2009 on the theme generation-specific health care in a society with longer life. The recommendations for special care requirements in the transition from adolescence into adulthood specifically referred to the necessity of developing transition programs at system and institutional levels and at the level of the health professions. A structural concept, the Berlin Transition Program ( BTP), was developed by the DRK Clinics of Berlin, the aim of which is to accompany adolescents from specialized pediatric and adolescent medicine into specialized adult medicine, as they settle safely into the new care system. The conception and implementation of the BTP into practice are supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation.