Preventative Medicine Flashcards
What is the main aim of Primary Intervention ?
Primary intervention aims to stop an outcome developing. This is achieved by preventing or stopping the exposure to a risk factor (e.g. use of preservatives to prevent HIV transmission)
Primary preventionaims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs.
Examples of Intervention ?
education about healthy and safe habits (e.g. eating well, exercising regularly, not smoking) Which may help fill gaps in knowledge and create a sense of urgenance in quitting these habits as well as feelings of worriedness which may help motivate smokers
Education campaigns were used to discourage tobacco use
- Regulation in advertising and taxation
- Prohibition of smoking in public places to reduce second-hand smoking .Such as in taxis, restaurants etc. theses places will help eliminate nay second hand smoking known as passive smoking to eliminate any after effects such as asthma .
legislation and enforcement to ban or control the use of hazardous products (e.g. asbestos) or to mandate safe and healthy practices (e.g. use of seatbelts and bike helmets)
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 reinjury or recurrence, and implementing programs to return people to their original health and function to prevent long-term problems. Examples include:
What are examples of Secondary interventions ?
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.
Screening procedures may be simple and cost effective.
Regular check-ups of blood pressure, urine (liver protein levels, glucose)and weight, may prevent diabetes, hypertension, arthrosclerosis, liver or renal failure, etc
What is Tertiary Intervention?
aims 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:
Diabetes is associated with many complications, among others renal failure and glaucoma. These may be prevented by managing glucose levels through insulin injection and/or diet restriction.
What are examples of Tertiary Interventions ?
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
Skin cancer process
- Primary prevention: reduce exposure to sun (sun protective clothing and creams)
- -Secondary prevention: surgical removal of skin cancer lesions, biopsy of the lymph nodes to discard metastasis, and regular check-ups to monitor recurrence.
- -Tertiary prevention: surgical removal of the affected lymph nodes to prevent further metastasis, and chemotherapy or radiotherapy to improve prognosis if the cancer has already spread.
To decide the best approach what do we need understand ?
To decide the best approach we need to understand how the exposure is related to an outcome.
What is Dose -response relationship ?
how the risk of an outcome varies with changes in the measure of the exposure.
An example of Dose Response
High alcohol intake may increase the risk of heart disease.
Modest alcohol intake may have a protective effect on the risk of heart disease.
In the UK, 1 unit = 8 g of alcohol = a third of a pint of beer. T
he government recommends 3-4 units per day for men and 2-3 units per day for women.
The shape of the dose-response relationship has an influence in the prevention strategy.
What is the aim of screening ?
aims to identify small numbers of individuals at high risk of an outcome.
are interventions available to reduce the risk or to treat the outcome at the early stages.
High blood cholesterol levels screening: health promotion or cholesterol-lowering-drug treatment.
What are the main two types of screening ?Cholesterol
In case of cholesterol levels: Mass screening: survey of blood cholesterol in all adults of a population
. Targeted screening: only in relatives with familiar hypercholesterolemia
What are the three types of Screening ?
- Mandatory
- Systematic
- Opportunistic Screening
Mandatory Screening ?
Testing or screening required by federal, state, or local law or other agencies for the diagnosis of specified conditions. It is usually limited to specific populations such as categories of health care providers, members of the military, and prisoners or to specific situations such as premarital examinations or donor screening.
Cardiovascular and optical examination for drivers, airline pilots, etc
Occupational health monitoring in workers exposed to asbestos, xrays, lead, etc.
Blood donors: HIV, Hepatitis, etc
What is Systematic screening ?
systematic identification of people with suspected active TB, in a predetermined target group, using tests, examinations or other procedures that can be applied rapidly.
Antenatal care Urinalysis: glucose, protein, blood, etc. Blood analysis: haemoglobin, full blood count (FBC), etc. Infectious diseases: rubella, HIV.
Selective screening Tonometry in relatives of glaucoma patients Women’s health Cervical smear, mammography.
Post-natal care Neonatal blood tests for phenylketonuria, hypothyroidism, etc.
*****organized health programme. E.g. in the UK every woman of 25-64 years of age should do a Papanicolau cervical smear test every three years to screen for cervical cancer.
