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Abstract
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Half of all lifetime mental illnesses start by 14 years of age,1 emphasizing the critical role that primary care pediatricians have in identifying and treating mental and behavioral health disorders. The role of pediatricians is further amplified by the limited workforce of psychologists, psychiatrics, and other mental health care providers. Pediatricians must be the frontline providers for common disorders such as anxiety and depression.
In this issue of Pediatrics, Lester et al2 describe the work that pediatricians are doing for children and adolescents with anxiety or depression. Their conclusions are compelling. Reviewing electronic health records from a large practice network in northern California, the authors found that pediatricians generally followed clinical practice guidelines for prescribing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication to children with anxiety and/or depression. The findings by Lester et al. highlight that pediatricians can appropriately provide evidence-based care for these conditions.
Several observations offer an optimistic perspective. The pediatricians documented that approximately 1 in 10 patients had challenges in accessing mental health care services and other recommended treatment. Given the national mental health crisis and challenges with access to care,3 this study suggests that these pediatricians are aware that they must fill the access gap in mental health services. Second, pediatricians are making medication decisions consistent with subspecialty practice. Of the cases who had documentation of a subspecialist involvement after medications were started by the pediatrician, only a small number (n = 2) had documentation of the subspecialist adjusting medications...
Language: en |