At Northampton Area Pediatrics, adolescent provider visits are different than examinations for younger children. Teenagers often have a special need for privacy, and may have some health care issues that they would like to discuss alone with their provider during their appointment or annual physical. Therefore, during adolescent provider visits, we like to provide every teenager with the opportunity to meet with the provider without their parent present. As a general practice, a medical scribe is also in the examination room assisting the provider throughout the visit. If the teenager feels more comfortable, she or he can request that the scribe leave at this time.

Initially, during adolescent provider visits, the parent will usually accompany the teenager to the exam room and meet with the physician. This is the time when the parent may ask any questions of special concern about their teenager’s health. The parent then returns to the waiting room while the provider and adolescent complete their discussion and physical examination. This period of time is very important for a young adult to learn to independently communicate about their health concerns with their own physician.

In order to help make adolescent provider visits more comfortable for all involved, it’s helpful if the parents and teenagers have open lines of communication. If you’d like to learn more about having discussions about health with your teenage child, read some of the articles we have indicated under “Adolescents” in the Children's Health Resources section of this site.

Finally, to help with registration for school sports, it is helpful for teen athletes to fill out a Pre-participation Form (opens PDF file) prior to coming in for the appointment.