Considerations for privacy and confidentiality in adolescent health care service delivery

A hallmark of delivering quality adolescent health care services is the provision of confidential care. Key tenets when providing confidential care for adolescents include time alone with a health care provider, maintaining the privacy of health information, and securing informed consent for services without permission from a parent, guardian, or caregiver. While confidentiality is a basic principle for all health care encounters regardless of age, the unique considerations for capable adolescent patients are not always realized or appreciated. By ensuring appropriate quantity and quality of confidential care for adolescents, clinicians are better equipped to elicit a comprehensive history and physical examination, while empowering the adolescent involved to develop agency, autonomy, trust, and responsibility for their own health care decision-making and management.