Chapter 7: Preventative Care is Pathetic

The health care system of the United States focuses more on curative care than preventative care. With the escalating costs of health care we need to invest more time and money in preventative health care.

Preventative medicine either prevents disease from occurring or diagnoses problems before signs and symptoms or complications of disease arise and increases the chance for recovery. The main goals of preventative medicine are to decrease the chance of getting ill, becoming disabled or dying. Preventative medicine involves healthy eating, exercise, smoking cessation, decreased alcohol use, injury prevention, the use of diagnostic tests to catch disease early and the use of vaccines.

Insurance companies pay for some preventative services but many are not covered. The American health care system is interested in making money. More money can be made curing and treating disease than preventing disease.

America has become an obese and sedentary society. We would rather watch sports than participate in them. We have a decreased use of physical education in schools. We watch more television and play more video games than exercise.

Lack of exercise is a common predecessor of disease. The implementation of a regular exercise program significantly reduced the risk of many diseases including obesity, which can lead to significant health care problems. Weight loss can provide many health benefits to obese patients including increased quality of life, decreased blood pressure, improved cholesterol and a reduction in diabetes and heart disease.

Chronic disease kills. Fortunately, chronic disease can be prevented or delayed with preventative health care. Preventative health care is a broad term that incorporates a variety of activities that prevents problems before they occur or catches them before they do too much damage to the body. Disease states can be treated easier if they are detected early.

Everyone will die; but approximately 40% of deaths are preventable and related to smoking, bad diet, lack of exercise and alcohol intake. Many preventative health activities are actions you do on your own without help from the health care system; but several activities require partnering with your health care providers. For example, exercise is something you need to motivate yourself to do every day and you cannot rely on your doctor to do it for you. On the other hand, exercise sometimes requires medical clearance and stress test before it can be done safely.

General goals of preventative health care are to decrease premature death and increase quality of life, while specific goals are set for each individual. National organizations have set up guidelines for preventative health care services.

Preventative health care is underutilized in the United States for a variety of reasons. Individuals often lack proper education about the importance of preventative health care or what it entails.

Lack of knowledge about the benefits of preventative health care limits use of these important services. The doctor often forgets or neglects to recommend preventative testing. It is therefore important that patients understand what tests they need and when they are needed, so they can act as a safety net to assure testing or treatments do not get missed.

The lack of knowledge about how preventative health care works is another barrier to getting recommended health care services. Exercise and nutrition are complex topics and many patients lack an understanding of what constitutes an exercise program or good nutrition. What you need to know

Health care responsibility is a key element in the practice of preventative medicine. Many aspects of preventative medicine get missed within the American health care system. Do not assume that your doctor will remember to discuss, recommend or provide all the necessary measures to practice good preventive health care. While some doctors are better at this than others, most doctors simply have too many patients and not enough time to do a complete job at preventative medicine.

You need to take responsibility. Many aspects of preventative medicine are completely dependent upon the individual while others require collaboration be between patient and the health care provider. Three main objectives to preventative health care: healthy lifestyle, health screenings and immunizations.

Living a healthy lifestyle is one of the most cost effective, and underutilized, ways to prevent the development or progression of chronic disease. Living a healthy lifestyle, in the American culture where a fast food restaurant is on almost every corner and it is glamorous to smoke and drink, is a challenging prospect. None-the-less, individuals who lead unhealthy lifestyles are at increased risk for death and disability.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not without challenges; it can be extremely difficult. It involves changing habits that have been ingrained in your lifestyle for many years. For example, unhealthy eating habits have been embedded into many people’s habits through out the years. Changing the diet to incorporate fruits, vegetables and lean meats can be very difficult. Finding sixty extra minutes in the day to incorporate an exercise program may involve major lifestyle shifts that cannot be overcome.

Smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your health. Smoking is associated with many diseases including heart disease, stroke, emphysema and multiple types of cancer. Quitting smoking is one of the most important steps you can take to improve quality and quantity of life.

Health experts report alcohol in moderation can have beneficial effects on health. Excessive alcohol can have multiple negative effects including liver damage, stomach problems, and problems with balance, which leads to falls and fractures. Moderate alcohol consumption, which is defined as one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, may protect the heart and raise HDL or good cholesterol.

Injury prevention is a broad category that can improve quantity of life. Activities associated with injury prevention include; wearing a seatbelt, using smoke detectors/carbon monoxide detectors, home safety evaluations and setting hot water heaters to 130 degrees or below.

In addition to the lifestyle changes discussed above, the health care consumer has a large task in assuring that they are up to day on all of their preventative health care testing and immunizations. Take this responsibility seriously – if you don’t, no one will!