Primary care services are your first point of contact in the healthcare system. They can help manage long-term conditions and prevent and diagnose several states in a patient. The providers get trained to deal with most personal health care needs. They offer general practice, dental, pharmacy services, and many more.
Primary Care Services
One of the essential services of primary care providers is wellness and prevention. It’s always better to embrace this than to get the treatment. And he’s likely to perform the following:
- Check your health history, which will help determine if you have any risk factors.
- Offer you vaccinations such as flu shots to protect you from catching a disease.
- Offer screenings that can find health issues at an early stage.
- Offer counseling on lifestyle changes you might encounter. And this will avert future illness.
Though they are several services provided by a primary care provider, let’s look at a few common ones:
1. Cardiovascular Health Screening
As part of your regular checkup in a primary care facility, your doctor offers you screening tests to check your heart health. During this procedure, he will look for any alarming signs such as the following:
- high blood pressure
- high blood sugar
- high blood cholesterol
- overweight and obesity
2. Vaccination
Vaccination plays a vital role in primary prevention since it can protect people from getting sick. Most diseases that can be life-threatening are controllable through immunization. Some of these include;
- measles
- tetanus
- polio
- whooping cough
Vaccination becomes effective for a broader population than an individual. The more people get vaccinated, people susceptible to illness are less likely to contract the disease. So, it’s best to mobilize people to protect the entire society.
The immune system in your body protects you against pathogens causing infections. It keeps away the microorganisms, tracks them, and eliminates them. So, a vaccine prepares your body to recognize these organisms and fight when attacked.
3. Counseling
A primary care facility can also provide counseling programs for people undergoing mild to moderate psychological problems. And also, for those experiencing emotional difficulties such as stress, depression, panic reaction, anxiety, relationship problems, loss issues, etc., most of these centers have professionally qualified doctors (counselors/Therapists) to offer this service. A primary care provider can tell when patients require this service and refer them to a specialist.
4. Cancer Screening
Cancer has taken away many lives of our loved ones. That’s why it’s safer to get screened since some cancers may not have the symptoms. Before you get screened, your primary care provider will discuss and enlighten you on the benefits of this test and prepare you accordingly.
Cancer or abnormal tissue found before it shows symptoms can be treatable when it’s at an early stage. But it can’t get cured when it has spread or grown in the body. So, when the doctor suggests a screening test, it doesn’t mean you have cancer cells, but getting screened is a preventative measure that can save your life. For instance, women may get a pap smear test to search for any sign of cancerous cells in the cervix. They can also have regular mammogram tests to check for breast cancer-using X-rays.
5. Wound Care
Wound care is one of the primary care services you can get in a health facility. These could be slow-healing burns, ulcers, and infections. And they could also include types of chronic wounds which get stalled in the healing process.
Some common medical conditions that may lead to this problem include diabetes, autoimmune disorders, injury-causing traumatic ulcers, etc. However, most wounds are treatable in a primary care center. But they are wounds that don’t heal in time, such as ulcers, which may require specialists. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a wound treatment that helps the wound heal faster.
Primary Care Service Team
A primary care facility with an integrated practice care team led by a primary care doctor provides comprehensive Care to their patients. They use a collaborative health care method to address medical issues.
And the team supports enhanced communication that empowers staff to use their skills and training and a chance to extend their professional capacity fully.
In Conclusion
Primary care services help develop a support partnership with patients and physicians. They offer general healthcare services such as immunization and non-emergency acute and chronic diseases. And they practice in the family context, encouraging people to live healthy lives. If you look around your community, you will find one of these. Even when you only need counseling, you can pop in and talk to someone.
