Can a paediatric department provide health care for vulnerable adolescents?

Adolescents can face multiple barriers when attempting to access primary health care and primary health providers often feel poorly placed to provide care. The Adolescent Resilience Clinic (ARC) was established to help overcome some of these difficulties.

To evaluate whether goals of the ARC were achieved and identify areas for future improvement.

A retrospective review of records for all patients referred to the ARC from May 2011 to May 2012.

A total 41 patients were seen, aged 12-18 years, the majority of whom (98%) were female. NZ Maori was the most common ethnicity (54%). Contraceptive needs and psychosocial issues were the predominant referral reasons. After consultation, most patients (81%) had multiple diagnoses. The proportion of patients participating in "risky" behaviours showed this group to be at risk of adverse outcomes. However, only 7% of patients had a complete HEeADSS assessment (an acronym guiding systematic psychosocial history taking assessing Home, Education or employment, Eating, Activities and affect, Drug use including cigarettes, Sexual risk behaviours and Suicide) documented.

The ARC provides accessible healthcare to a vulnerable population. Further work is needed on how to accurately document HEeADSS assessments while ensuring confidentiality.