Pediatric clinics of North America
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It is imperative to know what risk factors are more likely to appear during specific developmental stages so that identification and interventions can be used to decrease the risk for future SUD. Continued surveying of risk factors that can occur at any stage in childhood are important to ensure that other risk factors are anticipated and intervened upon as well. Multiple risk factors increase the magnitude of the risk for SUD, and therefore all risk factors should be detected to convert these to protective factors. ⋯ It is important to form a team approach so that all risk factors can be approached. Members of the team often include a primary care physician, a child psychologist, the parents, the patient, a teacher, a school counselor, a child psychiatrist, and sometimes a pediatric neurologist. No one member of the treatment team can provide all of the necessary services to prevent the future risk for substance abuse.
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Although all states have laws that allow minors to consent to substance abuse treatment, there is variability from state to state. Health care providers need to be aware of laws within their states. When providing health care to adolescents, many situations arise in which the provider must make a determination of the patient's competence to consent and whether parental notification would be in the patient's best interest. ⋯ Physicians and other medical care providers also need to manage confidentiality issues in drug testing, billing of services, and medical records and need to work with clinical administrative staff to clarify and implement policies to maintain confidentiality. Proposed changes to medical privacy regulations may compromise confidentiality for medical care of adolescents. Medical providers should continue to work with their professional societies and legislators to ensure that appropriate consent and confidentiality statues exist to provide optimal health care to adolescents.