Preventative care is designed to help individuals maintain good health, avoid or delay an illness, or manage a chronic illness. Preventative care may include routine wellness exams, screenings, and immunization.
What’s Included in Preventative Care?
Patients may receive the following preventative care services:
- Vaccines (pneumonia, shingles, tetanus, tdap, HPV)
- Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening
- Comprehensive chronic disease screening
- Blood pressure check
- Diabetes screening
- Lipid (cholesterol) blood test
- Bone mineral density testing
- Depression screening
- Health education
- Colon cancer screen
- Counseling
- Infectious disease screening
- Mammogram
- Pap smear
- Health risk assessment focusing on behaviors and lifestyle habits
- Specialty screens such as supplemental breast cancer screening and pharmacogenomics testing
- Digital rectal exam
- Osteoporosis screening
- PSA test
Patients may also be screened for alcohol misuse, tobacco use, anemia, and domestic violence and interpersonal violence screening for women.
What to Expect During a Preventative Care Visit
During a preventative care visit, patients need to be prepared with:
- List of medications, prescriptions, vitamins, and supplements currently being taken
- Information about family health history
- Questions and concerns about current symptoms and preventative care
During a visit, patients should ask the following questions:
- What screenings, vaccines, or medical tests do I need to take?
- How long does it take to receive test results?
- Am I at risk of any illnesses due to family history or lifestyle habits?
- What are your follow-up instructions?
- When is my next appointment?
- Are there any diet, exercise, or lifestyle changes I need to make to stay healthy?
Adults should ask the following questions at a routine checkup:
- How often do I need to get a wellness checkup?
- What is my ideal weight and waist measurement?
- When do I need to get a mammogram?
- Should I undergo genetic testing?
- Should I undergo screening for the following conditions?
- Cervical cancer
- Colorectal cancer
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Diabetes
- Prostate cancer
- What are the benefits and risks of screening tests?
- Should I undergo a bone density test?
- Am I up-to-date on vaccines?
- Are there any important screenings coming up for me?
Tips For Preventing Illness
The second component of preventative care is making lifestyle changes or improvements. To prevent illness, patients may be advised to:
- Quit smoking to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, lung disease, and type 2 diabetes.
- Make healthy food choices to maintain healthy weight and avoid becoming overweight or obese.
- Exercise regularly (at least 150 minutes per week) to prevent, delay, or manage chronic illness.
- Avoid drinking excessive alcohol to prevent hypertension, various cancers, liver disease, and stroke.
- Sleep at least seven hours every day to prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and depression.
- Know their family history and find out which steps are needed to prevent those conditions or detect them early.
Active Plus Home Health Care, Inc. has a team of medical professionals trained to provide preventative care. Give us a call to schedule an appointment.
