Usefulness of a review of systems questionnaire in the assessment of the hospitalized adolescent

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess whether a standard questionnaire, the Mile Square Youth Clinic Questionnaire, could enhance communication between patients and physicians, leading to an improvement in the care of the hospitalized adolescent. Each questionnaire was compared with: validated concurrent notations on the medical record, and the history recorded in the patient's outpatient chart. Eighty-two of the 100 patients completing the questionnaire presented new information resulting in a better understanding of the individual patient's needs. The new concerns elicited could be categorized into six groupings: personal/family (19.4%), school/friends (17.8%), body/weight (17.2%), somatic concerns/cancer (26.7%), sexuality/birth control (12.2%) and drinking/drugs (6.7%). Most patients had more than one area of concern. The study supports the usefulness of a review of systems questionnaire as a method of data gathering for the hospitalized adolescent.