Providing anticipatory guidance and/or counseling to adolescent patients is often a challenge, but it is an essential part of the adolescent exam and must be performed to encourage healthy living and choices. Oftentimes, opportunities for prevention are missed during routine visits. This may be due to the fact that screening guidelines are less clear for this age group. Regardless of the reason why prevention strategies are missed, it is detrimental to the patient because the incidence of the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality could be decreased if proper anticipatory guidance is provided. Several tools have been developed to help ensure proper screening of adolescents, including home/health, education/employment, activities, drugs, depression, safety, sexuality (HEADSS). The first step in providing anticipatory guidance to this age group is to provide a comfortable and confidential environment for the patient. To successfully communicate with the adolescent, the following strategies should be implemented:

The Federal Healthy People 2010 Initiative has identified several critical objectives pertinent to adolescent health care (Table 40.1).