A 17-Year-Old with Suspected Pregnancy – Case Study Analysis
Providing comprehensive and holistic care to a victim of teenage pregnancy requires a multifaceted approach to address both medical and psychosocial needs. When developing the care plan for this client, the healthcare provider should aim to provide support and educate the patient. Patient education and support are vital to promoting compliance with prenatal care and alleviating anxiety related to a lack of past experiences in pregnancy. Lastly, proper patient education and support improve overall maternal and child health by helping them cope and adapt to the new changes associated with pregnancies (NICE, 2021).
Resources to be solicited in the care of this client include prenatal care, such as providing access to early and regular prenatal clinics and emphasizing consistency, introducing the patient to financial assistance programs, providing nutritional guidance to the patient to emphasize on balanced diet with essential minerals and vitamins such as folic acid and calcium. Also, providing educational materials such as pamphlets, websites, and local support groups with information concerning labor, breastfeeding, and early parenting is essential. Further, providing mental health support will help address the emotional and psychological challenges of teen pregnancy, which may emanate from physiological changes that occur during pregnancy or the stigma and anxiety associated with teen pregnancy. Lastly, legal and social services will help the client understand their rights; the client should be guided on where to seek legal intervention if need be. To achieve this suggested plan of care, multidisciplinary collaboration is needed (Otiso et al., 2024).
To encourage compliance, there is a need to build trust by establishing and maintaining good rapport. Accordingly, the healthcare provider should avoid being judgmental and be sensitive to her feelings. Ensuring confidentiality will help encourage the client to be open about her concerns without the fear of stigmatization. Also, involving her boyfriend in the prenatal visits is significant so as to educate him on the requirements and planning for their child. This will promote the understanding of their supportive role and responsibilities. Moreover, reminding the client of frequent follow-ups through the phone and allowing them flexible scheduling promotes compliance by avoiding barriers (Vieira Martins et al., 2023).
Due to the considerably young age of our client, the pregnancy poses a couple of challenges that can compromise their medical and psychological well-being. The healthcare provider needs to conduct a thorough health assessment of the patient and identify the health risk factors. Upon understanding these factors, the healthcare providers will solicit knowledge from the various health disciplines to address the patient’s situation holistically. This ensures no gap in the care delivery and results in effective mitigation of complications that may emanate from unmanaged risk factors such as diet deficiency, unstable support system, and knowledge deficient issues. The solution to these issues stems from proper patient education, practicing patient advocacy, and inclusivity of the patient in decision-making (Otiso et al., 2024).
During the implementation of this plan of action, it is important to exercise high standards of professionalism to avoid exacerbating the client’s presentation. For instance, the patient, in this case, is on a great verge of developing mental issues such as depression secondary to stigma and social isolation along with inadequate support. Due to this reason, the health provider should work towards building trust through establishing and maintaining a good rapport with the patient. Reassure the patient of their confidentiality; this will boost their trust and confidence in seeking healthcare. Lastly, to ensure the quality of care delivered, it is important to ensure personalization of care to develop interventions tailored to address the patient’s needs as an individual.
References
NICE. (2021). Antenatal care. In PubMed. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573778/
Otiso, L., Steege, R., Njoroge, I., Linet Okoth, Tubb, P., Nyothach, E., Phillips-Howard, P. A., Theobald, S., & Taegtmeyer, M. (2024). Safeguarding in practice: Anticipating, minimizing and mitigating risk in teenage pregnancy research in urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. BMJ Global Health, 9(2), e013519–e013519. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013519
Vieira Martins, M., Karara, N., Dembiński, L., Jacot-Guillarmod, M., Mazur, A., Hadjipanayis, A., & Michaud, P.-A. (2023). Adolescent pregnancy: An important issue for pediatricians and primary care providers—A position paper from the European Academy of Paediatrics. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/
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Question 
You have a 17-year-old female who comes in with a suspected pregnancy and limited family support. She is accompanied by her 18-year-old boyfriend who is the father of the child. While knowing she needs prenatal care, what resources and education would you try to provide and how would you encourage compliance in this vulnerable patient?
A 17-Year-Old with Suspected Pregnancy – Case Study Analysis
What are some of the biggest risk factors that this patient faces and how can you provide quality care while being sensitive to the stigma that comes with teen pregnancy?