Preventive Medicine Specialist

What is preventive medicine?

Preventive medicine aims to help you stay healthy and protect your health and well-being with a variety of screenings and services. The doctors at Internal Medicine of Greater New Haven believe it’s important to be proactive about your health care, taking steps to monitor your health and prevent illness with immunizations and prompt, effective treatments at the first detection of the early warning signs of illness or other health conditions.

What services are part of preventive medicine?

The ultimate goal of preventive medicine is to keep you healthy. This includes routine exams, screenings, interventions, and vaccines.

Annual physical exams

Your annual physical exam is an opportunity for you and your doctor to talk about any changes to your health and well-being and for your doctor to run any tests and routine screenings to check for signs of conditions that don’t cause obvious symptoms in their early stages. Your doctor keeps records of your health to compare your current health to previous visits and notes any changes.

Tests and health screenings

Your doctor provides advice on routine health screenings and tests to check for signs of illness or other health conditions in their early stages. For example, your doctor checks your weight/BMI, blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol levels at your annual exam. Depending on your risk levels, you also need regular, if not annual, screenings for conditions like cervical cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, colorectal cancer, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Intervention

Your doctor may suggest interventions to improve your health. For example, if your blood pressure or glucose levels have increased slightly between your annual physical exams, your doctor might suggest some lifestyle changes to your diet and exercise habits to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure or diabetes. Similarly, if you smoke, your doctor can help you quit, which is essential for long-term health.

Vaccines

Vaccines are a safe and important part of protecting your health and the health of your community. From the immunizations you received as a child to routine tetanus and flu shots, vaccines protect you from serious and dangerous illnesses.

Why is preventive medicine important?

Preventive medicine helps you maintain your health. This helps you maintain a high quality of life and avoid serious health conditions that could require invasive medical care and negatively affect your life. The saying, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, means that if you take care of yourself and work with your trusted preventive health care provider, you can reduce your risk of serious illness.

If you want to improve your health and reduce your risk of medical conditions, call or make an appointment online today.