What is adolescent medicine?
Adolescence is a beautiful, moving, eventful and, above all, decisive phase in the development into the adults we become.
Unfortunately, in the health sector, adolescents are a world apart.As soon as they turn 14 and no longer go to a paediatrician, they disappear from the system and their annual check-ups, which are essential for their optimal development, are interrupted. It is as if they are seen as adults overnight. But at Juaneda Hospitals we believe that they are not. To fill this gap, we therefore are committed to adolescent medicine.
Adolescence is a stage full of changes, transformations and dangers typical of an age when young people are not fully aware that their behaviour can have medium to long-term consequences. For this reason, we have an Adolescent Medicine Department in Juaneda Miramar, where the family doctor Inmaculada Moreo accompanies both young people and their families.
What is adolescent medicine?
Part of medicine aimed at treating the health of adolescents from a physical, psychological and social point of view. It is specific in that it is a preventive medicine that promotes certain health habits and aims to identify possible risky behaviour and treat the most common pathologies in adolescents (behavioural disorders, addictions, insecurities, etc.)
In addition, as in the healthy child programme, we commit ourselves to annual check-ups with the teenager. We accompany and guide them. We start treating them like adults and help them to find their way. We give them a voice, we teach them to enjoy this phase and to understand that not everything that goes through their minds is a pathology, but a change typical of their age.
Almost all teenagers experience similar changes. But being a teenager in the 21st century is not the same as in earlier times. And while it is true that many behavioural patterns are repeated from generation to generation, today's teenagers are what are known as digital natives. They were born into the world of communication, and social networks are part of it. It is therefore important to pay special attention to teaching them how to use them. They need to learn about privacy, respect for others and for themselves.
"We are seeing a remarkable increase in dependency on new technologies, and they are complicated to treat because it is an addiction where the cause (the technology) cannot disappear", says doctor Inmaculada Moreo.
It is therefore important to teach them from an early age to use the new technologies properly. From paediatricians and adolescent doctors to family doctors. Young people need to know what the technologies are and how to use them responsibly.
At Juaneda Hospitals, we want to guide you through a stage that is as wonderful as it is complex, walk the path with you and see your children grow into extraordinary adults.
Juaneda, close to you.
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