Is the Potential of Teenage Consultations Being Missed?: a Study of Consultation Times in Primary Care

Abstract

There is a paucity of knowledge regarding teenage health even though it features as one of the priority areas in the government's health plans. There have been few reports of adolescent contacts with primary care teams, although there are impressions of a suboptimal service. As a prelude to understanding more about communication between general practitioners and teenage patients, this study aimed to look at the time spent on teenage consultations, which can be used as one method of describing the quality of care provided to teenage patients. Nine-hundred consultations involving six doctors in one surgery were timed over a 3 month period by one observer using a validated method. One-hundred and nineteen consultations with patients aged 11-19 were compared with the 781 consultations for other age groups and showed a statistically significant mean shortfall of nearly 2 minutes (23%). This trend was confirmed for all six doctors, despite a broad range of average consulting times. The study also demonstrated some other characteristics of teenage consultations. Several implications of these results are discussed as well as possible reasons for these findings. The study emphasizes the need for further research in this area.

Adolescent friendly health services: perceptions and practice of medical professionals

“…3 Previous studies have also showed consultations with teenagers are shorter than for other age groups. 10 In 2009, adolescents accounted for 18% of the world population, with a majority of them (88%) lived in developing countries. 10 India's Adolescents population is 253 million (22% of total population) and highest in the world.…”

“…10 In 2009, adolescents accounted for 18% of the world population, with a majority of them (88%) lived in developing countries. 10 India's Adolescents population is 253 million (22% of total population) and highest in the world. Studies show that investing in the health of adolescents prevents the estimated 1.4 million deaths that occur globally every year.…”

“…Studies show that investing in the health of adolescents prevents the estimated 1.4 million deaths that occur globally every year. 10 Earlier studies have also pointed towards concerns about confidentiality, discomfort in disclosing health issues, absence of adequate counseling services and difficulty in accessing services as some of the health related barriers identified by adolescents. Thus an intensified effort is required to increase health service utilization of adolescents especially on reproductive health service.…”

“…10,13 Adolescents should be addressed in an atmosphere of trust and confidentiality. 12 Health care providers should value the privacy of adolescents and always restrain themselves from judgmental attitudes.…”

Health Care Experiences and Needs of Adolescents in Urban Greece: Implications for Planning Appropriate Health Care

“…Furthermore, studies have reported that a familiar trusted person can improve communication and adolescents are more willing to discuss topics that have been previously discussed [31]. Time available for consultation is an important parameter of increased quality in health care of adolescents, as has been consistently shown [23,24,27,32,33]. Confidentiality and privacy have been also shown to be critical for high quality health care for adolescents and research has shown that adolescents who forgo health care due to confidentiality concerns are particularly vulnerable and in need of health services [34,35].…”