Adolescent Health Care in Primary Care Setting

Adolescent Health Care in Primary Care Setting

The goals for the level of health in the United States by the year 2000 were Priority issues addressing the health promotion needs of adolescents. Specifically, the areas of identified concern included nutrition, physical activity and fitness, unintentional injuries, maternal and infant health, immunization and infectious disease, health education and preventive services, and AIDS (HAVENS & Peterson, 1990). Health risks of adolescents frequently are associated with rapid physical changes, experimentation with new behaviors, genetic predisposition and eating habits and participation in health compromising activities (Orr, 1989). In contrast to children and adults, the leading causes of adolescent mortality are not disease, but are related to violence ((Irwin & Millstein, 1986). One way to prevent the morbidity and early mortality from accidents, homicide and suicide is through primary prevention. The school nurse provides primary care to adolescents, yet little is know abouttheir primary prevention activities that focus on health promotion issues especially those aimed at high risk behavior, safety issues, and risks for violent deaths.