Preventive health is the use of recognized proactive health screenings, counseling and maintenance to prevent diseases and future treatments.
Preventive health
is also known as preventive medicine or prophylaxis.Preventive care
is what you do (before you get sick) to stay healthy. So why should you go to the doctor when you're healthy? The simple answer is that preventive care can help you stay healthier and, as a result, lower your healthcare costs.Preventive care helps detect or prevent serious illnesses and medical problems before they get worse. Annual checkups, vaccines and flu shots, as well as certain tests and screenings, are some examples of preventive care. This is also called routine care.
Preventive health care
deals with disease prevention to lessen the burden of disease and associated risk factors.They apply their expertise in medicine, social, economic and behavioral sciences to improve the health and quality of life of individuals, families, communities and populations through disease prevention and health promotion. For example, if a person has a colonoscopy as a screening test for colorectal cancer, that's preventive, even if the doctor removes polyps or tissue samples during the procedure. Another form of primary prevention is to increase resistance to disease exposure through vaccination (for example, the primary level of prevention is a population health approach that is characterized by measures taken to prevent future health hazards and reduce factors known to increase health hazards risks of illness. However, if additional follow-up care is needed, such as another procedure to remove additional growths or any treatment if cancer is detected, it is not considered preventive, so you may have to pay some out-of-pocket costs.
As a medical specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), preventive medicine focuses on the health of individuals and communities. When it comes to diseases and ailments, public health measures are excellent examples of preventive care. Some examples of relevant references include the CTFPC Red Book, which includes recommendations for lifelong detection and prevention. Screening, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, are two examples of preventive care that are critical tools for early detection of cancer.
Some of these prevention techniques may be active and involve individual participation and others are passive. Increased preventive care is expected to decrease chronic conditions and help people maintain good health throughout age.
