The rationale for a specialty of adolescent medicine.

HISTORICALLY, THE FIRST MEDICAL CLINIC for adolescents was developed at Boston's Children's Hospital in 1951, when Dr. J. Roswell Gallagher was appointed as its first head and I was his first trainee. Since 1950 I have personally been involved in the adolescent medicine movement. It is quite successful and has caught the fancy of a variety of people in and out of medicine. As of now, there are about 65 formal adolescent clinics in medical centers in the United States. In addition to the formal adolescent clinics, all of the medical centers that I have visited are planning facilities or are revamping old facilities to include in their inpatient division a ward for adolescents. For example, at the University of Nebraska they have just finished revamping the University Hospital and now have a magnificent floor for adolescents. In addition to the University Hospital there will be a 26-bed adolescent inpatient unit for all adolescent disorders. In addition, there are ample ambulatory facilities adjacent to the inpatient facilities. Most of the pediatric departments in the country now recognize the need for some kind of program within the pediatric department for the adolescent. The only real holdup is in the lack of well-trained people to run such programs.