What is the need for preventive healthcare?

As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care”, especially when it comes to healthcare. This is why preventive care services are designed in order to prevent diseases and maintain proper health.

The array of services in preventive care include-

• Regular check-ups
• Routine physicals
• Diet counsel
• Anemia screening
• STD screening
• Vaccines
  
  
  
  
  

These tests help in determining diseases in an individual. However, tests results may vary from one individual to another depending on the age, sex, and health condition.

Though many may not consider going for healthcare tests, probably they are not aware with the benefits or importance of it. If you are one amongst those then following are the reasons behind going for preventive healthcare-

• The foremost benefit of going through preventive healthcare is it helps to identify serious health conditions. With diagnosis of disease beforehand, preventive measure or treatment can be conducted. Hence, before things become worst, treatment for the disease can be decided.

• Individual with good health may also be suffering from serious health conditions. Signs or symptoms are rare to detect in such individuals. This is why regular screening is advisable to detect the issue and take necessary action.

• Going for healthcare test, not only helps in determining health issues in an individual but it also lets them take necessary measures or treatment at the right time. After screening, doctor may recommend lifestyle changes, prescription that will help the patient from being a victim of certain diseases.

• Last but not the least reason behind going for preventive healthcare is it helps save money. Early detection of disease saves large sum of money when required to cure it. For instance, detection of high cholesterol reduces risk of heart attack.

The bottom line is that the early preventive healthcare measure helps avoid or delay health issues.

However, before going for the test, it is important to discuss medical history, present health condition, and any other conditions with the doctor. Enquiring about the problem and discussing everything with the doctor will lessen your worries. So, make sure to clear your doubts.

When looking for preventive healthcare services Mt Sinai there are many factors that you need to consider. As physicians play an important role, therefore, make sure to check whether doctors have relevant experience in primary care or not. Exploring on the web will help you find reputable physicians in your city.

What is the expertise of a primary care physician?

Physicians are health care specialists who diagnose and treat health issues of a person whether infant, teenager, or adult. They apply their knowledge and clinical expertise for the treatment of patient.

Following is the list of tests in which primary care physician Mt Sinai is expert in performing-

Allergy testing-Millions of people are prone to allergy. These are of different type like food allergy, allergic asthma, dust allergy, seasonal allergies, penicillin allergy, dermatitis, skin rashes, hay fever, and venom allergy. To discover the reason behind any of these allergies, physician conducts allergy test. Before conductingany test, they first ask present illness, lifestyle, eating habits etc. Later, diagnosis of the allergy is done via skin test or blood test.

Full body checkup- This is a comprehensive checkup of the body. It includes checkup of the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, lungs, ear, abdominal, eyes, skin, nervous system etc. In addition to this, regular checkups are also conducted that include blood pressure, heart rate, weight, temperature, and respiration rate. To determine count of blood cells, glucose level, and cholesterol level, blood test is conducted.

Arterial Doppler- It is an ultrasound to determine calcium or fat level in the body. Increased levels of calcium or fat can cause health issues like blocked arteries, defects in heart valve, arteriosclerosis and swelling in arteries.

Carotid Doppler- Plaque in carotid arteries restricts blood flowing to the brain. This can cause serious health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Carotid Doppler test helps in determining narrowness of the carotid arteries.

Echocardiogram- This ultrasound is performed to diagnose heart diseases like valve disease, pericardial disease, congenital heart disease, and myocardial disease.Based on the result of this test the doctor prescribes medication.

Holter test- This test is performed to determine whether proper oxygen is received by the heart or not. Physicians attach a small device on the patient’s body for 24 hour.

Mild Cognitive Impairment- With age, memory problem occurs. This includes forgetting things, not able to make decisions, language problem, understanding problem, lack of judgment skills etc. There is no specific test or treatment to cure this problem. Based on the provided information (age, lifestyle, family history, present medical condition, and eating habit) physicians make a treatment plan that helps in reducing other risk factors like diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea.

Medical Associates
5499 Nesconset Hwy
Mt Sinai, NY 11766
Phone: (631) 928-2600, (631) 928-9355

Mild Cognitive Impairment- Sign of decline in cognitive abilities in an individual

With age, memory tends to lapse. But sharp decline in memory loss is a symptom of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

People suffering from MCI experience trouble while remembering names and often conversation. They have to rely on written notes to remember their daily activities.

Symptoms

Mild cognitive impairment is classified in two parts-

• Amnestic MCI- Person when starts to forget important information (appointments, conversations, or recent events) suffer from amnestic MCI.
• Non amnestic MCI- Thinking ability of a person when gets affected is said to be suffering from nonamnestic MCI.

Diagnosis

Determining the cause of MCI is yet not possible, but yes, diagnosis is done to make a judgement about person’s symptoms.

A medical checkup of a person suffering from MCI includes-

• Review medical history- This includes reviewing family medical history, previous illness of patient, and physician documents.
• Assessment of daily activities of patient- Focus and judgement is made on changes in patient’s daily activity.
• Assessment of mental status- Evaluation of memory, ability to understand, visual ability, and other key thinking skills is done.
• Neurological examination- Checking functioning of nerves, movement, coordination, balance, and senses.
• Laboratory tests-Preparing patient for blood tests and brain structure imaging.

If all these aforementioned evaluation tests does not work, doctor recommends neuropsychological testing (thinking ability test that comprise of series of written or computerized tests)

Causes and risks

The causes of mild cognitive impairment are still not determined, but person suffering from this problem is at a risk of suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.

Few possible causes that lead to risk factors of MCI include- advancing age, family history, and cardiovascular disease.

Treatment and outcomes

For the mild cognitive impairment treatment, there are no medications or drugs, which could prevent person from it.

However, still few medical procedures are followed that helps slow decline in thinking skills-

• Exercise regularly helps keep heart fit, which eventually keep the brain active by providing proper blood flow.

• Controlling cardiovascular risk factors eventually benefits brain functioning.
• Participate in activities that require brainstorming. This keep brain active and keep an individual mentally stimulating and social engaged.
• Patient should go for evaluation test after every six months. This helps determine whether the problem has declined, it is same, or it is growing or worsened.

Type of medical tests that help in diagnosing illness

People undergo medical tests in order to determine health problem or illness. Wide range of comprehensive medical laboratory tests are carried out at health care centers. Few of them are discussed below-

Annual physical tests-This comprise of tests like blood pressure, heart rate, weight, temperature and respiration rate in order to determine whether the person is suffering from mild or acute fever. However, not specifically done for testing fever, but these tests are also done for determining other health issues.

Glaucoma Screening-People with eye problem is said to be suffering from Glaucoma. It produces no symptom, which gradually result in loss of vision. Medical test that helps in determining this health issue is Glaucoma Screening. Under this test procedure, visual testing, pachymetry, ophthalmoscopy, gonioscopy and optic nerve imaging tests are conducted.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) - When problems with memory like thinking ability, judgment, attention, and remembering ability starts hampering, the person is said to be suffering from Mild cognitive impairment. This problem can further lead to risk of Alzheimer's disease. For diagnosing this issue, patient require going for MCI.

Cardiology testing- There are four tests included in it that are as follows Echocardiograms, Electrocardiograms, Holters & Sudo Scans and Carotid & Leg Dopplers. Each test differs in evaluation of the results. For example, Echocardiograms and Carotid & Leg Dopplers use sound waves to evaluate results, while Electrocardiograms use electrical impulses.

Cardiovascular system test- For testing the circulation of blood in body and heart cardiovascular testing is performed. This test comprise of following- routine treadmill stress testing, stress echocardiograms, adenosine cardiolite, lexiscancardiolite, dobutamine stress echocardiograms, dobutaminecardiolite, cardiolite treadmill, echocardiograms, carotid ultrasound and more.

Respiratory system testing-To measure the functioning of lung, respiratory system testing is performed. During the testing process, values that helps in measuring pulmonary function is Tidal volume (VT), Vital capacity (VC), Total lung capacity, Forced expiratory flow (FEF), Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and Minute volume (MV).

Nervous system testing-For diagnosing problem in nervous system, neurological tests are conducted for evaluating disorders. This test include computerized tomography (CT), electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electromyogram (EMG) and cerebral spinal fluid analysis (spinal tap).

Contact Us: 

Medical Associates
5499 Nesconset Hwy
Mt Sinai, NY 11766
Phone: (631) 928-2600, (631) 928-9355