Physicians' perceptions of the status of adolescent health care within themilitary health system

Objective: To describe the nature of the health care delivered to dependent adolescents throughout the military and compare services provided in adole scent medicine clinics with those provided in other medical departments and clinics. Method: Questionnaires were sent to physicians in pediatrics, int ernal medicine, family practice, primary care, emergency care, and adolesce nt medicine at 101 randomly selected military treatment facilities. A subsa mple of experts was selected to provide facility-specific, informed, repres entative information on the care provided to adolescents. Results: Sixty-si x percent (N = 345) of physicians returned completed questionnaires, provid ing information on 100% of the facilities sampled. More than half of respon ders felt that adolescents avoided care in their department. Two-thirds of all physicians, and three-fourths of the expert subsample, believed that ad olescents are best served within adolescent medicine clinics. The expert su bsample reported that adolescents served in facilities with adolescent medi cine clinics received broader services. Only 28% of the facilities sampled provided any specialized adolescent medicine services. Conclusion: The mili tary health care system has made progress in providing care to adolescent d ependents, but reaching larger numbers of adolescents requires additional e fforts.