The special care needs of adolescents in hospital

'Health Services cater for the child, the adult, but rarely for the adolescent who has special needs and sensitivities. As far back as 1959 the Platt report recognised that adolescents have specific problems. Paediatric wards have come a long way in meeting the needs of babies and young children, but adolescents seem to have been neglected. This paper looks at the normal development of adolescents, and demonstrates how an admission to hospital can have an adverse effect on them. It then looks at the benefit of asking adolescents their own views so that our understanding of them will be greater, and the environment they are nursed in more appropriate.