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Confidentiality and Care of the Adolescent Patient

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Handbook of Adolescent Health Psychology

Abstract

Medical errors that occur in adolescent care may be more frequent in the outpatient setting as opposed to the intensive care unit or medical ward. They will likely be the result of breaches in confidentiality, and occur from the omission of behavioral health counseling and preventive options (such as immunizations), or errors in minor legal consent. This chapter uses a hypothetical patient case to discuss issues around confidentiality and minor consent laws for reproductive health and mental health diagnosis and treatment. It concludes with proposed solutions and challenges based on the Institute of Medicine core needs for preventing medical errors.

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Correspondence to Yolanda N. Evans M.D., M.P.H. or David J. Breland M.D., M.P.H. .

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Evans, Y.N., Breland, D.J. (2013). Confidentiality and Care of the Adolescent Patient. In: O'Donohue, W., Benuto, L., Woodward Tolle, L. (eds) Handbook of Adolescent Health Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6633-8_23

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