Gender differences in chief complaints and treatments of adolescents in an urban Community School nurses office, October – December, 2010

Objectives. Visit data from a Community School nurses office were examined to determine gender differences in chief complaints and treatments. Data were collected using a newly established database system provided by a community philanthropic partner. Methods. Visit data (n=2,213 visits) were tracked for four months in an urban, low-income, multi-ethnic middle school where 100% qualify for free lunch. Chi-square estimated gender differences. Results. The top 20 chief complaints represented 91% of 50 unique complaints. The top five complaints were minor injury (14.9%), headache (12.2%), stomach ache (8.6%), menstruation (7.2%) and cold/flu (5.2%). Boys had significantly more total visits than girls (59.1% vs. 40.9%) despite the significantly higher (p < 0.05) number of complaints related to menstruation issues. Boys had a significantly higher (p < 0.05) number of minor injuries (18.2% vs. 10.1%), ADHD/ADD (7.9% vs. 0.5%), and diabetes (4.0% vs. 0.0%). Interestingly, 1.2% of girls use the clinic bathroom because of fear of using other campus bathrooms. Accordingly, 59% of boys had significantly more treatments than girls (41.1%) (p < 0.05). The top five treatments were food (24.8%), ice/heat packs (13.7%), rest (9.6%), gargle (8.8%) and prescription medication (7.0%). Over these four months, only 0.05% of visits required sending students home. Conclusions. Headaches/stomachaches can be signs of stress which is being reported more often in this generation as opposed to past generations. Moreover, existence of these data are unique in the district and will help delineate needed services when this nurses office becomes a SBHC employing nurse practitioners and physicians.