Prophylactic medical examination of 15/16 year old from the Warsaw Agglomeration. Evaluation of the implementation of standards in practice

Abstract

Prophylactic medical examinations - called well-child visit - are among the benefits guaranteed under basic health care. The prophylactic visit should include, among others: physical examination and an interview (with the adolescent and the parent), as well as individual pro-health education.

Aim: The aim of the study was to answer the question whether preventive medical visits of 15/16 year olds from the Warsaw Agglomeration are carried out within the scope defined by the Minister of Health and in accordance with standards.

Materials and methods: The course of well-child visit was evaluated on the basis of 359 anonymous questionnaires filled in by students from randomly selected 11 schools from the Warsaw Agglomeration.

Results: In 3.3% of the respondents, the doctor did not carry out any of the physical examinations asked in the questionnaire. The most often doctor auscultated chest organs (94.4% of respondents), the least frequently examined genitals in girls (2.1%). During the visit, the doctors raised less than 4 topics on average. The most frequent subjects of discussion were menstruation (80.0% of girls), chronic diseases in the adolescent's family (59.1%) and physical activity (51.0%); the rarest ones were depression and suicidal thoughts (3.1%), violence (1.9%) and the influence of the family on the patient's well-being (1.4%). The compatibility of the gender of the patient and the doctor increased the number of topics discussed.

Conclusions: The confrontation of the data obtained by us with the content of the Minister of Health's regulation and the standards in force in Poland provides the basis for a negative assessment of the implementation of medical prophylactic examinations in the adolescents in the Warsaw Agglomeration.

Keywords: adolescents; general medicine; pediatrics; population surveillance; preventive health care.