Levels
Preventive medicine strategies are typically described as taking place at the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary prevention levels. In addition, the term primal prevention has been used to describe all measures taken to ensure fetal well-being and prevent any long-term health consequences from gestational history and/or disease. The rationale for such efforts is the evidence demonstrating the link between fetal well-being, or "primal health," and adult health. Primal prevention strategies typically focus on providing future parents with: education regarding the consequences of epigenetic influences on their child, sufficient leave time for both parents, and financial support if required. This includes parenting in infancy as well.
Simple examples of preventive medicine include hand washing, breastfeeding, and immunizations. Preventive care may include examinations and screening tests tailored to an individual's age, health, and family history. For example, a person with a family history of certain cancers or other diseases would begin screening at an earlier age and/or more frequently than those with no such family history. On the other side of preventive medicine, some nonprofit organizations, such as the Northern California Cancer Center, apply epidemiologic research towards finding ways to prevent diseases.
| Prevention levels | Doctor’s side | |||
| Disease | ||||
| absent | present | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient’s side |
Illness | absent | Primary prevention illness absent disease absent |
Secondary prevention illness absent disease present |
| present | Quaternary prevention illness present disease absent |
Tertiary prevention illness present disease present |
||
Read more about this topic: Preventive Medicine
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