Preventive care, as its name implies, is all about maintaining and protecting your health for the long term. Nowadays, we live hectic and stressful lives that oftentimes lead us to ignore our wellness, until something starts going wrong.
Although that can be a common practice, waiting for our bodies to ring the alarms doesn’t have to be how we operate our lives all the time. Just like an apple a day keeps the doctor away, an annual checkup can help you prevent potential diseases or health issues that might arise. Because of this, scheduling a once-a-year visit to preventive care in Brentwood, TN, can be the answer to staying healthy for longer.
What Qualifies as Preventive Care?
Preventive care, as its name suggests, is a branch of medicine that focuses on taking precautionary measures to maintain and protect patients’ health for the long term. An effort that requires regular checkups, screenings, immunizations, and the expert guidance of a qualified professional, to be successful. Because this type of medical attention only focuses on precautional care. It doesn’t include treatment for already identified health concerns, care and treatments for ongoing conditions, or routine checkups for specific health issues or diseases.
The Importance of Preventive Care in Brentwood, TN
When it comes to taking care of your health, there’s no such thing as starting too early. Taking an active role in maintaining and protecting your well-being is more than treating a disease or health issue when diagnosed, or making lifestyle changes when something goes wrong. It is also getting regular checkups and screenings from specialized professionals before issues appear.
This medical branch not only focuses on precautionary measures to stay healthy for longer. Not when this medical branch is also crucial for early detection of health issues and concerns that are not preventable. Because earlier detection of diseases leads to more cures and longer lives, it makes it an unavoidable step to protect your well-being. Especially for those that don’t show any signs or symptoms, and can only be diagnosed through methods like this.
Related: Preventive Care in Brentwood, TN: Identifying Medical Problems Before They Begin
Crucial Elements of Preventive Care
Preventive care visits are necessary to ensure that your health is in optimal conditions. There are several preventative services, but this branch of medicine generally focuses on three crucial elements. Annual checkups, screenings, and immunizations. These three are designed to help patients prevent health issues and to assist doctors in detecting them early on.
Annual Checkups
One of the foundations of preventive care are its regular checkup visits. During these annual appointments, the patient’s overall health is examined and monitored by a healthcare provider. Who looks for any irregularities in the patient’s tests, to determine if diet, habits, lifestyle changes or other exams are necessary.
Annual physical exams often include:
- Family health history
- Medical history
- Weight and BMI
- Blood pressure exam
- Lung exam
- Among other examinations that can be of aid to detect irregularities.
At Cool Springs Internal Medicine & Pediatrics we also work with insurances.
Health Screenings
Depending on aspects that can vary from person to person, a patient may be required to perform certain screenings. Something that is crucial to prevent risks and for early detection of health concerns. Said aspects can include family and medical health history, habits and lifestyle, age and symptoms.
Some key screenings in preventative care, are:
- Cancer screenings: Mammograms, pap smears, HPV tests, colorectal, lungs.
- Screening tests: Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar.
- Mental health screenings: Depression and anxiety.
These serve as precautionary strategies that can be crucial to protect a patient’s wellness for the long term. Often making all the difference to achieve an early diagnosis in conditions like cancer, which translates into an opportunity to slow disease progression and initiate early curative therapy.
Immunizations in Brentwood, TN
Immunizations are a vital part of preventative care that starts during infancy and continues from adulthood to old-age. Because they cover a broad range of ages, their recommendation can depend on factors such as age, immune status, health, pregnancy, among others.
Some required vaccinations in Tennessee include:
- Hepatitis A and B
- Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)
- Diphtheria, tetanus-pertussis (DTaP)
- Varicella
- Meningococcal
Find Our Preventive Care Services in Brentwood, TN
Regular check up appointments are one of the main foundations to maintain and protect your wellness. At Cool Springs Internal Medicine & Pediatrics our main priority is to take care of our patients and ensure their health for the long term. Contact us to schedule your annual preventive care appointment and take the first step to maintain your wellness for years to come in Brentwood, TN.
2. More Accessibility
Living in a rural area isn’t an impediment for family medicine. These doctors act in those communities as the front line of comprehensive care, providing pediatrics, geriatrics, emergency and maternity services for those without easy access to it, leading to building deep doctor-patient relationships.
