Acute Care Clinic Patients: Being a specialized service, strict guidelines are enforced in order to provide the proper care for the proper individual. Failure to follow these guidelines, such as disclosing a family physician or medical treatment elsewhere for the presenting problem, will disqualify the patient from future Acute Care Clinics at Quinte Pediatrics, unless referred by a physician.  Please review the Acute Care Clinic consent form below.

Teens: One of our goals in caring for adolescents is to maintain parental trust and support while respecting the adolescent's need for confidentiality and consent. The transition to adolescent care makes it imperative that the paediatrician begin to relate first to the patient and second to parents. As Cohen so well stated: "Unfortunately, some pediatricians view this shift in emphasis as an assault on the family and thus adolescent medicine is often cast in the role of anti-family. This could not be further from the truth. To support and interact with a teenager, especially one in trouble, is the ultimate in family support and integral to the nurturing of a stable family unit."

It is our experience that the adolescent and his or her parents may need to discuss some issues separately. At least part of the teen's visit to Quinte Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine is routinely conducted with the patient alone. Most parents understand and welcome this transition. It affords an opportunity for a freer interchange on health issues and, frequently, more decisive management. The value of the feeling that "I am going to the doctor" rather than "my mother is taking me" cannot be underestimated.