The pediatric cardiologist and adolescents with congenital heart disease

The Cardiology Division of The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh has designed a format for dealing with adolescent patients with ongoing cardiac disease. At this stage, when the patients are neither children nor adults, the integration of ongoing disease is particularly difficult. They are already more vulnerable because of the complex psychosocial demands of normal adolescent growth and development. The issues of understanding and addressing all of their needs are of upmost importance if they are to be given total medical care.