A PLAN FOR MEDICAL CARE FOR ADOLESCENTS

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Abstract
IN 1953 a teen-age clinic was established at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital Medical Center in Oakland, California. This report gives the reasons for establishing this medical service for adolescents; describes its setting, organization and method of operation of the service, and presents a brief review of the experience in the clinic. Doctors differ in their approach to the dilemma of the adolescent's medical problems. Some find it an interesting and challenging experience to provide care to this in-between group; others find it unpleasant and at times forbidding. The striving of the adolescent for both independence and social acceptance, for recognition as an individual who is no longer a child and, at the same time, for the continuance of the security enjoyed as a child, may present special problems to the physician who assumes responsibility for the medical care of the adolescent. In the medical care environment, as in other social environments, the adolescent resents being considered as a child, yet may not have the necessary understanding and background to accept being considered as an adult. The teenager is urged by parents and teachers to have periodic physical examinations and to obtain medical care for specific illnesses or injuries. His reaction to the attitudes and behavior of the receptionist, the nurse and particularly the physician can establish antagonisms to routine medical care which carry over into adulthood. In contrast, favorable reactions at this age can assist in developing a significant appreciation of the advantages of periodic examinations, disease prevention, and early detection of disease. If he learns to seek and to apply medical advice during a period of his life in which there is a low incidence of diseases that are difficult to treat, he probably will continue to do so in later years.

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