Transcription:
Teaching Teens to Take Responsibility for their Health

Bill Klaproth: No parent can have eyes on their teen 24 hours a day. And as children mature, they often become more hesitant to share health concerns with mom or dad. That's why it's incredibly important children have trusting relationships with their pediatricians. And to help prepare your teen for adult life, it's important to encourage them to take responsibility when it comes to their own health, from managing their medications to making their own doctor's appointments. These skills will serve your child well into the future. And here to talk with us about teaching teens to take responsibility for their health is Dr. Jara Best Jones, a general pediatrician at Le Bonheur Pediatrics.

This is The Peds Pod by Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. I'm Bill Klaproth. Dr. Jones, thank you so much for your time. It is great to talk with you. So first off, why is it important for teens to take responsibility for their health at this age?

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Well, first of all teens need to be responsible for many things at this age. But being comfortable with being responsible for their own healthcare is something they need to develop early on. The earlier they establish being able to communicate with their physician, the more information they'll be able to provide in a timely manner.

And as they develop those skills, being able to advocate for themselves, they'll be able to become equal partners and important partners when they start to learn how to manage their own healthcare. So the earlier they start, the more comfortable they become and the more effective they become at managing their healthcare.

Bill Klaproth: And it sounds like this would help them later in life then too, is that correct?

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Absolutely. They're learning lots of important skills during this very important time in their lives. So this is a skill that they need to develop and cultivate, so they'll be able to use it throughout their whole adult life especially if they develop any health conditions that they need to be aware of.

Bill Klaproth: So tell us what does this look like then when a teen takes responsibility for their health? Give us a view into what that kind of looks like.

Dr. Jara Best Jones: When the teen takes responsibility for their own health care, we think about, you know, of course   doing things like eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and exercising and getting plenty of sleep and avoiding drugs and alcohol and all that's important. But one of the main things that they really need to be effective at is managing their own healthcare.

So they need to be able to have a thorough understanding of their complete medical history. They need to know what medicines they're taking and remember to take those medicines without being reminded by their parents. This and being able to do simple tasks by scheduling their own doctor's appointments and things of that nature. They need to be able to learn how to do those things now, so they'll, like I said, be able to do it when they're adults.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah. You just talked about scheduling their own appointments. So is that one of the steps a teen would need to take in order to take full responsibility for their healthcare? What other steps should a teen take at this point?

Dr. Jara Best Jones: There's a couple of steps. But yes, definitely being able to schedule their own appointments but they can do other things. One of the main things they can do before they transfer out of a pediatric office is being sure that they're active participants during their own doctor's appointments now.

They need to be able to ask their own questions instead of having their parents ask the questions during their doctor's visits. They should be able to be involved in that whole conversation. And another thing we also want to make sure teens do is have opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with their doctor at some point during that appointment. It allows them to build a trusting relationship with their physicians, which will make them feel more comfortable about being an effective partner in their own healthcare at this age

Bill Klaproth: I love how you say, be an active participant and an effective partner in their own healthcare. So simple things like learning how to make an appointment, going to see the doctor, asking questions. And then you said becoming more comfortable. I think that is key because making teens feel comfortable when interacting with the doctor is really important, isn't that correct?  

Dr. Jara Best Jones: It is. And one thing we always like to remind the teens is that when they're with their physician, their conversations are private and their doctor is not going to share their information unless the teens mentioned something about them wanting to harm themselves or others and then their parents will be informed. But otherwise, they'll be able to have a one-on-one private conversation with their physician to express those concerns that they might not feel comfortable talking about in front of their parents

Bill Klaproth: Yeah. Such a really good point. And speaking of the parents, how can mom and dad assist in this process?

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Mom and dad can do lots of things. The main thing especially with teens is to just be encouraging and supportive during this time. Because taking responsibility for your own healthcare and making your own medical decisions, it can be kind of intimidating and challenging especially when someone else has had this responsibility for making those decisions their entire life.

So when that responsibility is transferred over to them, their parents can still be a support person and encouraging and making sure, when they do forget, to make those appointments and schedule their own appointments and refill their medications that they may be taking on a regular basis.

Bill Klaproth: Great to have support from mom and dad, but generally they're the ones that really initiate this. "You're going to make the appointment. You're going to go see the doctor. You're going to ask questions. You're going to be involved in your own healthcare." So mom and dad really do have a very crucial role in teens taking control of their own healthcare.

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Exactly. And this can start as early as 12 or 13 years old. But you want to make sure it's at a time where the teen actually feels comfortable taking on that responsibility of handling their own health care tasks on there. But like I said, the more often they are doing those tasks, the more comfortable they become with doing it as an adult.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah. That's really interesting. I'm glad you mentioned that it can start as early as 12 years old as long as the child feels comfortable in doing that. So then let's talk about maybe some other obstacles that a teen might face in taking responsibility for their healthcare. What are some of the potential roadblocks or obstacles in the way?

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Some of the potential probably the biggest roadblock would just be inadequate preparation. They you think about having, like I said, our parents are always doing this for us. But as you start preparing and knowing what your medical history is and being comfortable telling somebody about your medical history, you'll be able to manage it better yourself. So being just prepared and I even encourage some parents and young adults or teenagers to make sure that they ask their doctor to help them make a complete medical summary and an emergency plan, because a lot of these teens are heading off to college out of state or they're actually getting ready to transfer to an adult provider. So the more information that they have on hand when that time arrives, the less daunting the task will be.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah, that makes sense. And as you were answering that, you were mentioning college. I was thinking if you prepare a teen while the child is in high school and they do take responsibility for their own health care, when they do go off to college if they do need to seek medical care, they will know what to do. They will feel comfortable with that process, so that really does help them. When they move away and off to college or whatever they do when they move out, they're kind of prepared for dealing with their physician.

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Right. And they'll be comfortable with dealing with the physician or a new doctor because a lot of these children or teenagers have been with the same pediatrician for a long time. So they'll be more comfortable when they do have to meet their new adult doctor without things that they need to tell them about the history and allergies and family history. All of that stuff, it's already prepared for them, they'll be more able to communicate that with their adult physician.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah. This is really really good advice. Love this topic and such good thoughts. Dr Jones, thank you so much for your time. This has really been informative. We appreciate it. Thank you again

Dr. Jara Best Jones: Absolutely. No problem

Bill Klaproth: That's Dr. Jara Best Jones. And for more information, please visit LeBonheur.org. And be sure to subscribe to The Peds Pod on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. You can also check out LeBonheur.org/podcasts to view the full podcast library. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This is The Peds Pod by Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Thanks for listening.