Disease prevention has a huge impact on public health; however, diseases are inevitable. Preventative measures are in place such as annual physicals, screenings, vaccines, educational programs, and training to ensure the right steps are being taken by the community to prevent diseases when applicable. Despite the preventative measures in place most individuals still suffer from some type of disease. Because diseases have such a vast variety it is unrealistic to expect diseases to be prevented completely. Rather than eliminating diseases, protocols from many different health organizations are in place to prevent diseases from spreading and escalating beyond control, and even still it cannot eliminate them completely. Primary prevention includes preventative measures before the disease occurs. Primary prevention can also be thought of as interventions before health risks occur. As a first line of defense for health, primary prevention serves an important role to a person’s health. It is important to recognize primary preventative measures as well as their importance to health. Health education is one of the main forms of primary prevention, therefore, a large emphasis is placed on educating people about health. Other forms of primary prevention seen in healthcare include smoking cessation programs, immunization programs, pregnancy programs, and employee safety education. Each one of these programs focuses on informing people about their health and things to avoid promoting health. As people become more aware of health risks through programs similar to the ones listed, they will be more self-aware of their health. When primary prevention has failed, secondary prevention steps in. Secondary prevention involves early detection of diseases and illnesses. With early detection, diseases and illnesses are more likely to be controlled and outcomes are better controlled. Secondary prevention focuses on prevention of progression of a disease. This form of prevention can detect findings before they become a health issue or establish existing health issues and diseases in the earliest stages to help lessen the impact of a disease. Annual exams and physicals, mammograms, colonoscopies, and screening programs are just a few examples of secondary prevention. Screening programs help to detect health issues before they become an issue or in the earliest stages of a disease. Many health departments use and encourage this form of secondary prevention to minimize the health effects of various health issues. Screenings can identify changes or abnormalities in a person’s health. By detecting abnormalities early on the prevention of the progression of a disease or illness can be accomplished. When primary and secondary prevention fail, tertiary prevention is in place. Tertiary prevention is used to lessen and treat an already existing disease. This is done by lessening the symptoms and minimizing any disease related effects. Tertiary prevention is done by monitoring individuals with a disease and places a focus on the rehabilitation of that individual. An example of tertiary prevention is traditional medicine. A person who has been diagnosed with asthma who is taking medication to help manage their asthma is an example of tertiary prevention. With the same example in mind, a healthcare provider prescribing maintenance and rescue medication to the patient with asthma is another form of tertiary prevention. The role of tertiary prevention is to help manage an already present disease with medications or other treatment regimens. In this example, a person taking medications to help control their asthma and taking medications when their asthma is exacerbated is tertiary prevention measures. Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention all play a role in managing individuals health. Quaternary prevention is an extension of tertiary prevention that focuses more on specialty medicine in terms of disease management and prevention. This type of care is considered cutting-edge because it is specialized care that is done in research facilities and highly specialized facilities. An example of quaternary care is clinical trials for various diseases and experimental procedures such as hyperthermic therapy for cancer treatments. These are examples of quaternary care because of the specialization of these treatments. It is important to keep in mind that quaternary care is an extension of tertiary care that focuses on specialized treatments. In this example, the differentiation between the two is seen where tertiary care would be standard cancer treatment regimens. The example of hyperthermic therapy is considered quaternary rather than tertiary because it is a cutting-edge specialized treatment option that can only be done in specialized facilities.
Niles, N. (2018). Basics of the U.S. Health Care System (3rd ed.) [Review of Basics of the U.S. Health Care System]. David Cella.
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