[The adolescent and the hospital].

This article deals with the care and treatment of the adolescent in hospital. As a result of changes in society and alterations in the biological and psychological patterns of growth adolescents are being increasingly regarded as a distinct and separate group. In the authors' opinion medical care in the Netherlands is still not sufficiently adapted or geared to the needs of the adolescent. The authors propose that special facilities be created for adolescents in hospitals and out-patient departments, along the lines of those currently available in the U.S.A. The establishment of special adolescent units in children's hospitals and general hospitals requires considerable organisation and the recruitment of suitably qualified staff; in addition, medical students and nurses must be given factual and scientifically accurate information about adolescence during their training courses.