To get what you need, you have to do the legwork.

 

Is a longer, healthier life worth your time?

• Preventive guidelines are recommendations on what you can do now to keep yourself healthy now and in the future. Most of us believe that we should take all the steps possible to prevent disease, instead of just rolling in all the guns after we already have disease.


• The best preventive guidelines are written and updated by
  the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.


• "The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) was convened by the Public Health Service to rigorously evaluate clinical research in order to assess the merits of preventive measures, including screening tests, counseling, immunizations, and preventive medications.” http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd.htm, accessed February 3, 2009.


• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, has taken the USPSTF guidelines and put them into a somewhat patient-friendly form. Go to www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ppipix.htm. (Now read the next section, but be prepared for the big “BUT” after.)


• Scroll down and, under the topic “Health Care Consumers”
  (in the center of the page), see the following:

• Men: Stay Healthy at 50+—Checklists for Your Health
• Women: Stay Healthy at 50+--Checklists for Your Health
• Staying Healthy at 50+ [Poster]
• Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age (en español)
• Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age (en español)
• Superheroes (en español)

BUT, the problem with these patient-friendly guidelines comes when they say:

• "check with your doctor”
• "ask your doctor” (twice in women 50+)
• “talk to your doctor” (5 times in women 50+)
• “talk with your doctor”
• “your doctor can help you decide”
• “feel free to ask your doctor”
• “tell your doctor”

And your doctor doesn’t have the time to talk with you, doesn’t take the time to talk with you, or hasn’t kept up with the recommendations, so he can’t really give you good advice.  And we know that doctors don’t give the right preventive medicine guidelines in over 45% of patients.

SO, you have to do some of the leg work here—you’ll have to go to a web page that’s really made for doctors.

You need to find out what preventive services (measures) you need

Yes, following the steps below in the "National Guidelines for Preventive Medicine" is not exactly easy and they are time-consuming. That’s why your doctor often doesn’t have the time to do this for you!

But, you can usually do this if you stick with it. And please help others get this filled out who might be having more trouble than you!

 

National Guidelines for Preventive Medicine STEP 1

• Go to http://epss.ahrq.gov/ePSS/index.jsp and click on “Grade Definitions” on the left-hand side of the page. Print those out, so that you can understand the recommendations.


• Click on “Search for Recommendations” and enter your age, gender, smoker or non-smoker, and whether you’re sexually active or not, and then click on “Show Recommendations.”


• Print out the recommendations. (We’ll now call this “Your Preventive Guidelines.”)

STEP 2

• Note that Grades A and B are the first recommendations on Your Preventive Guidelines. That means that the USPSTF absolutely recommends that doctors give these preventive services (measures) to you if you are in the risk group described.

• Click on “Details” to see information about the people who should have this preventive measure. Read the “General” tab, then read the “Clinical Considerations” tab, the “Rationale” tab, and the “Tools” tab. You will usually be able to tell if you are in the group of people who need this service. Ask your doctor if you’re unsure, but first try to do this for yourself.


• Click on the “Risk info” icon (3 people), and see the risk factors that doctors are supposed to consider when deciding if someone should have this service.


• Put a "check" beside those measures you need. Also write down how often you need this measure.

• Note that Grade C essentially means there is at least modest certainty that the benefit to receiving this preventive measure is small, and the decision should be individualized.

• Look at these measures and decide if you think these apply to you. Make a note beside the measures you think apply to you. Ask your doctor if you’re unsure.

Note that Grade D means that those preventive measures have no net benefit, or that the harms outweigh the benefits.

• Avoid these preventive measures unless you have a particular reason for them

Note that Grade I means that the evidence is insufficient to know whether, on balance, this service’s benefits outweigh its possible harms.

• Look at these services and do some research to see if they would help you. Ask your doctor if you’re unsure, but try to figure it out on your own.

Note that you can use the green button on the web page to go
to the next recommendation or the previous recommendation,
and stay in your preventive sheet.

STEP 3

• Make a doctor’s appointment for “prevention and screening” and take Your Preventive Guidelines with you. Give your doctor a copy, and tell him you'd like to get all of the USPFTS recommended preventive guidelines for someone of your age and your health condition.

 

Congratulations!

Now you won’t be one of the 45% of Americans who don’t get proper screening to prevent disease and stay healthy!

The next step is to make sense of the results from the screening—but take a deep breath first, and reflect on how satisfying it was to be able to get what you need instead of leaving it up to the whims, time constraints, or memory of your physician.

AND, even if you have one of the really great doctors who does make sure you get all of these preventive measures—you’ll just be helping him a lot. Thank you.