Does doctors and other medical personnel encourage preventive care?

Question

Some people say that doctors and other medical personnel do not encourage preventive care, particularly for young men. From your own experience, what changes could be made in the practice of medicine to help young adults be healthier?

Answer 1

I am a medical professional and I do think that most doctors, nurses etc. do promote preventative care. It gets difficult because alot of ins. companies don't pay properly for these things. Immunizations, mammograms, pap smears etc. are sometimes difficult to get covered by ins. The best preventative care is good diet and exercise.

Answer 2

I think a good doctor or medical professional should always encourage preventative care-that is a sign that your doctor really cares about your health and wants to catch a problem before it starts. Only a bad doctor would treat you when you are sick and not tell you how to keep yourself healthy.

Answer 3

Young, healthy people really don't need much advice to stay healthy, and I can promise you from experience that they aren't going to listen to advice from professionals at any rate. The vast majority of health issues in adolescents and young adults are from overtly risky behavior that the young man or woman knows he shouldn't do. There's a difference between ignorance, which can be fixed with education; and stupidity, which cannot. As Will Rogers once pointed out, some people listen to the advice of others, and some people just have to pee on the electric fence themselves.

Answer 4

I think most of us do discuss preventive care. It's very important in my specialty of pediatrics, and goes far beyond immunizations.

Several factors reduce the effectiveness of our efforts. 1) We may present it poorly, 2) there are more important issues on the patient's or parent's agenda, 3) Lack of time, and 4) less incentive because of poor reimbursement.

I know that most of you will rankle at the last comment, but if I billed an insurance company for taking extra time to discuss preventive care, and there are ICD-9 codes for this, that particular item is rewarded by a big fat zero.