The provision of patient care is one of the most critical aspects of the medical profession. It is the responsibility of healthcare practitioners to ensure that their patients are comfortable and receive the best possible care. Patient care involves a wide range of activities, from providing basic comfort and support to administering complex treatments. Some patients need urgent care, while others emergency care. Healthcare practitioners provide them with all of these.
Patient care is essential for ensuring the safety and well-being of patients. It also plays a crucial role in helping patients recover from illness or injury. Healthcare practitioners must always put the needs of their patients first and provide them with the best possible care. There are three general types of patient care: preventive, curative, and supportive.
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Preventive Care
Preventive patient care attempts to prevent the onset of disease, including checking for and treating risk factors such as high blood pressure. Preventative patient care is often associated with the medical field and involves a general practitioner or family physician. However, it can also be taken on by any healthcare provider who makes efforts to ensure that their patients remain healthy and do not experience health problems in the future. There are three general types of preventive care.
Checkups
In a checkup, the patient meets with their healthcare provider for a general assessment of their health. This may involve blood pressure and temperature tests and examining the heart and lungs or other body parts. A patient who has not seen their primary care physician in some time will typically have a checkup as part of his wellness plan.
Screenings
A screening is a test that checks for a disease before any symptoms appear. These often take place at specific ages such as 40 years old or 64 years old. For example, women should begin receiving regular mammograms after age 40 to screen for breast cancer risk factors. Parents should also schedule regular screenings to test newborns for several disorders such as sickle cell anemia.
Vaccinations
A vaccination is a prophylactic treatment that prepares the body to fight off an illness before it occurs. In many cases, vaccinations can help prevent patients from contracting dangerous infectious diseases such as polio and measles. Vaccines are typically administered by injection but may also occur via oral medication or topical cream.
Curative Care
Curative patient care aims to restore a person to good health after becoming ill (or injured). If an illness is cured, then there will be no lasting effects from this type of treatment. A curative approach may use pharmaceuticals, surgery, or therapy as part of its plan of action. Sometimes multiple treatments are used at once to get the best results possible. Inpatient care is typically only delivered in a curative setting. Curative patient care is generally associated with hospitals and other clinical healthcare facilities because these are where doctors who specialize in cures work.
Surgery
Surgery is a type of curative care that uses invasive means to heal people. In the medical world, “surgery” is often used as a general term for all forms of invasive treatments. If a patient undergoes surgery, they will receive advanced treatment from an expert physician or surgeon. Depending on the illness or injury, a patient may require surgeries at different stages in his life. After a cancerous tumor or other dangerous tissue has been removed from the body through surgical methods, this is an example of curative care taking place.
Drug Therapy
Some people believe that drugs are inherently dangerous and should never be prescribed to patients who need them. On the contrary, some types of drug therapy are used to restore patients to good health. Drug therapy can be administered by a doctor or hospital staff member or may occur under the supervision of another healthcare specialist with excellent knowledge of pharmaceuticals. Examples of these specialists are pharmacists and dieticians.
Physical Therapy
If a patient has an illness or injury that affects their general mobility, they may require physical therapy to become well again. This type of curative care often takes place in a medical facility but can also be done at home with the assistance of someone who is medically trained. Physical therapy treatments may take many forms depending on what parts of the body are affected by the illness or injury. Stroke patients, for example, may need to use special equipment to help retrain their bodies after suffering from this type of debilitating condition.
Supportive Care
Supportive patient care aims to alleviate symptoms of a disease while it runs its course, rather than trying to cure the illness entirely. Some symptoms that may be alleviated include pain, nausea, or even stress from being diagnosed.
Supportive patient care can also involve tasks such as coordinating doctor’s appointments and arranging for transportation to medical centers when necessary. In some cases, supportive caregiver roles fall onto family members or close friends of patients who have chronic conditions that require constant attention (such as Alzheimer’s disease).
Patient care can be broken down into three basic types: supportive, curative, and preventive. The strongest type of patient care should always be at the forefront of any medical decision-making process because this will provide the best results for people who need help regaining their health. While prevention is generally the least expensive method of treatment, it may not always be possible to stop an illness or injury from occurring (due to factors like bad luck).
