Reply separately to two of your classmates posts (See attached classmates posts, post#1 and post#2). INSTRUCTIONS: As an educational opportunity, respond to two of your peers, and briefly summarize a
POST # 1 CHARMAINE
Helping Adults Stay Healthy
Screening, Gender, Age, And Ethnic, or Age-specific
Screening is defined as “the presumptive identification of unrecognized disease in a ‘seemingly’ healthy, asymptomatic population through tests, examinations, and other procedures that can be applied rapidly and easily to a target population” (WHO, 2020. P., 1). Screening is an essential part of helping people and communities stay healthy. It is a necessary aspect of health promotion and preventive medicine. Different screening processes and tools are used depending on the demographics of the population or person being screened. The process helps to identify various health conditions or risks in patients to prevent the progress of the illness and to provide timely treatment to minimize the symptoms and consequences related to particular health conditions. In turn, screening improves the health outcome of the community or population at low costs (Iragorri & Spackman, 2018). Adults face various risks that can hinder their ability to be healthy; hence it is crucial to frequently undergo screening to help them stay healthy, prevent and diagnose illnesses early enough for effective and appropriate intervention, treatment, and management.
A screening program must adhere to the fundamental steps and core components of a screening process, which starts with inviting community members of the target population to take part in the screening exercise and it ends with treatment for the appropriately identified individuals (WHO, 2020). Before conducting a community screening programs, the team or organization planning to undertake the activity should discuss and obtain approval from the local leadership to hold the health screening programs. The team should also select and appoint the team that will be involved, including the chairperson for the health event and the additional members who will assist in the planning and logistics. The next step is to identify the specific location such as a church, community hall, or a school, among others. The team should also decide on the particular health areas to focus on, such as diabetes, obesity, optical, dental, different cancers, and dermatology, among others. The next preliminary step is to decide on the rules, requirements, expectations, of the clients and staff, the designated date, and the contact person. The preparations should be done early to allow time for publicity to ensure high turn up. Besides, early preparations will enable the screening team organization to have adequate time to organize and arrange for resources, tools, volunteers, and any other necessary support and partnership required to make the event successful. On the day of screening, the room should be well set to prevent confusion of the documents and screening results. Once the screening exercise is done, the team should diagnose and treat those identified as having the symptoms or the various health conditions which were being screened (WHO, 2020).
The screening process for various health conditions in adults should focus on specific characteristics such as gender, age, and ethnicity, or culture, which are significant determinants of health in adults (Iragorri & Spackman, 2018).
Age in screening for breast cancer screening:-For example, age is relevant in screening for different types of cancers may require the screening professionals to determine age as part of the screening process due to the health risks that health is attributed to in certain health conditions. For instance, mammogram, which is screening for breast cancer requires the screening professional to factor in age because women above 40 years of age are at a higher risk as compared to younger women (Hernandez & Blazer, 2016).
Gender/sex in screening for heart failure screening: - When screening for some diseases, it is critical to give considerations to the sex or gender of the patient or client. For example, women, especially in the United States, are at a higher risk of developing heart failure as compared to men.
Ethnicity and culture and coronary heart disease: - Ethnicity and culture also play a significant role in the screening process because some ethnic groups are at a higher or lower risk of getting some health conditions or illnesses as compared to others. For instance, South Asian men have a 50% higher chance of getting coronary heart disease as compared to men in the general population (Hernandez & Blazer, 2016).
References
Hernandez, L.M. & Blazer, D. G (2016). Sex/Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Health. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment: Moving Beyond Nature/Nurture Debate. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19934/
Iragorri, N., Spackman, E. (2018). Assessing the value of screening tools: reviewing the challenges and opportunities of cost-effectiveness analysis. Public Health Rev 39, 17, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-018-0093-8
WHO. (2020). Screening. https://www.who.int/cancer/prevention/diagnosis-screening/screening/en/
