Role of the Primary Care Pediatrician in Adolescent Psychosocial Assessment and Intervention.
The author believes that the pediatrician is in a position to counsel adolescents and parents. Some pediatricians are uncomfortable with the idea of offering separate office hours to counsel adolescents, but once the interest is there and the physician is well versed in dealing with adolescent care, the counseling aspect of patient care becomes a natural consequence. Common areas of adolescent turmoil are addressed, including the depressed adolescent, the adolescent who is failing in school, the adolescent who is not functioning well at home, the adolescent who is using drugs, and the adolescent who is having a sexual problem.
Lopez
RI
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York, USA.