Adolescent Medicine

The Teen Republic Occupation Promotion (TROPA) Center is a proposed project of Adolescent Medicine Division in the next 5 years. This is a room/site/building where adolescents from the transition clinic may learn life skills to support them during adulthood. This will be the practical arm of the transition clinic. As far as encourage patient participation, this program will offer opportunities for adolescents who are chronically ill, pregnant teens, teen parents or out-of-school to gain life skills and choose a career for financial sustenance in adulthood. Aside from this, the program will involve the adolescents’ participation as volunteer adolescents will be given the chance to be involved in peer-to-peer counseling.

Adolescents with special health care needs may experience difficulties in transitioning from pediatric-centered to adult-centered health care. These difficulties may in part be due to lack of physician training in transition care. Through the ARTP, adult medicine physicians will undergo a 4-week blended learning on how to handle adolescents with chronic illness. The program also aims to develop administrative skills appropriate in establishing and managing a Transition Program. The participants are Internal Medicine residents and subspecialty Fellows

This is an annual workshop which started in 2015 which caters to health care providers and those who closely work with adolescents. The aim is to provide health care practitioners, teachers, parents, counselors with knowledge on current issues affecting the adolescents. Topics such as social media, mental health, online school during the pandemic, adolescent sexuality and relationships, parenting the adolescents were just a few topics for the past years. The lectures were always followed by a workshop with cases for discussion.

The Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City is a tertiary, multi-specialty hospital that caters to children, adolescents and high-risk pregnancies. Teenage pregnancy is considered high- risk because early pregnancies among adolescents have major health consequences for both the adolescent mother and their babies, as well as social and economic consequences.

Pregnant teens and teen parents have needs that are unique to the developmental stages of adolescence, in addition to the needs common to all pregnant women, mothers and fathers. While we continue to place much needed attention to addressing teenage pregnancy and teen birth rates with focus on prevention, the Adolescent Medicine Division would also place emphasis on providing services for teens who are already pregnant and/or have become parents. Thus, the program is called, “Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Teen Parent Program“.

The program will address the needs of pregnant teens and teen parents in order to improve their health and life outcomes and those of their children. Teen parents face challenges on their way to becoming successful adults and parents. This may be because of interruptions in their education which may lead to inability to achieve higher education. And this can limit a teen parent’s career options and increases their risk of living in poverty. It is also important to understand the social and demographic context of pregnant teens and teen parents to provide comprehensive support for this special group.

Mental and behavioral health concerns among adolescents have been on the rise much so as an effect of the COVID pandemic. The Adolescent Medicine Division recognizes the need of adolescents to have access to mental health screening, diagnostics and treatment options. As mental health issues necessitate a systemic, sustained and coordinated approach, the Psychology service of the division as well as close collaboration with the Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ensure that comprehensive care is given to adolescents and their families.

A school-based mental health support is an important program that the division will be embarking on. This represents an important mechanism to ensure that adolescents receive health and mental support they need. This includes but is not limited to prevention, intervention, and treatment service as well as efforts to strengthen the school’s ability to work with students with mental health concerns.

In order to improve adolescent health, screening for sexually transmitted illness (STI) and HIV is recommended as pediatricians are the first line in providing optimal sexuality and reproductive health care. All adolescents are interviewed in a non-judgmental and confidential approach about issues and concerns about their sexual health. Sexual health screening also includes STI and HIV screening, adhering to the guidelines. Clinical care is also provided to those who need it. Most importantly, as only a third of Filipino youth aged 15-24 years have an awareness of STIs, according to the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study or YAFS5, health education and awareness on STIs and HIV is provided to the adolescents.

The Adolescent Medicine Division promotes adolescent wellness through well- adolescent check-up including anticipatory care and guidance. The well-adolescent visit involves a complete history and physical examination with focus on the HEEADSSSS interview, immunization catch-up, promotion of a healthy lifestyle, digital world safety, dental check-up, identification and mitigation of high-risk behavior among others. Ensuring that every adolescent has the knowledge, skills, and opportunities for a healthy, productive life is essential for achieving improved health in a holistic manner.

The OPLAN BTS is one avenue to promote adolescent wellness. The division has started this back-to-school wellness program last July 2022 and has so far catered to adolescents living around the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. This year, a collaboration with different schools nearby will encourage and promote adolescent wellness visits among schoolchildren.

The Outpatient clinic of the Adolescent Medicine is currently located in the previous GPSD Conference Room and serves adolescents 10 years old to 18 +364 years old with the following hours of operation:

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8am-5pm

Tuesday and Friday 8am -12 noon

All adolescent patients seeking consult after the specified hours are re-scheduled to come on the regular OPD office hours for non-emergency cases or are seen in the Emergency Room for emergency cases. The Division has been operating using Telemedicine and face-to-face OPD consultations. Appointments are made online via the PCMC Adolescent Medicine Division Facebook page. Walk-in patients are also accepted through the OPD Triage. Telemedicine appointments can also be coursed through the Facebook page.