Preventative Medicine Flashcards
What is Primary Intervention and examples ?
Primary preventionaims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs.
This is done by preventing exposures to hazards that cause disease or injury, altering unhealthy or unsafe behaviours that can lead to disease or injury, and increasing resistance to disease or injury should exposure occur. Examples include:
education about healthy and safe habits (e.g. eating well, exercising regularly, not smoking) Which may help fill gaps in knowledge and creat a sense of urgenance in quitting these habits aswell as feelings of worriedness which may help motivate smokers
immunization against infectious diseases.
reduce exposure to sun (sun protective clothing and creams
Primary prevention aims to avoid the development of a disease or disability in healthy individuals.2 Most population-based health promotion activities, such as encouraging less consumption of sugars to reduce caries risk, are primary preventive measures. Other examples of primary prevention in medicine and dentistry include the use of fluoridated toothpaste, and vaccinations for infectious diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and polio.
What is Secondary Intervention ?
Secondary preventionaims to reduce the impact of a disease or injury that has already occurred. This is done by detecting and treating disease or injury as soon as possible to halt or slow its progress, encouraging personal strategies to prevent rei njury or recurrence, and implementing programs to return people to their original health and function to prevent long-term problems. Examples include:
regular exams and screening tests to detect disease in its earliest stages (e.g. mammograms to detect breast cancer)
daily, low-dose aspirins and/or diet and exercise programs to prevent further heart attacks or strokes
suitably modified work so injured or ill workers can return safely to their jobs.
The focus of secondary prevention is early disease detection, making it possible to prevent the worsening of the disease and the emergence of symptoms, or to minimize complications and limit disabilities before the disease becomes severe.2 Secondary prevention also includes the detection of disease in asymptomatic patients with screening or diagnostic testing and preventing the spread of communicable diseases. Examples in dentistry and medicine include screening for caries, periodontal screening and recording for periodontal disease, and screening for breast and cervical cancer.
What is Tertiary Intervention ?
Tertiary preventionaims to soften the impact of an ongoing illness or injury that has lasting effects. This is done by helping people manage long-term, often-complex health problems and injuries (e.g. chronic diseases, permanent impairments) in order to improve as much as possible their ability to function, their quality of life and their life expectancy. Examples include:
cardiac or stroke rehabilitation programs, chronic disease management programs (e.g. for diabetes, arthritis, depression, etc.)
support groups that allow members to share strategies for living well
vocational rehabilitation programs to retrain workers for new jobs when they have recovered as much as possible.
The goal of tertiary prevention is to reduce the negative impact of an already-established disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related complications.2
Tertiary prevention also aims to improve the quality of life for people with disease. In medicine and dentistry, tertiary prevention measures include the use of amalgam and composite fillings for dental caries, replacement of missing teeth with bridges, implants, or dentures, or insulin therapy for Type II diabetes
