Prevention is generally regarded as the best approach to public health. Instead of responding to crises, practitioners and providers are advised to spearhead the implementation of preventive interventions. The U.S Preventive Services Task Force (UPSTF) is among the organizations that work with healthcare providers to promote disease prevention. This organization’s stated purpose is to improve the health of the American people through the promotion of evidence-based interventions for disease prevention (“U.S Preventive Services Task Force”, 2018). To execute its mandate, this organization usually issues recommendations that are designed to safeguard public health. One of the recommendations is that clinicians should refer for counseling pregnant women who are believed to be exposed to a greater risk of suffering depression (“Perinatal Depression”, 2019). Another recommendation that the organization has issued is that low doses of aspirin should be administered for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. This organization also recommends that practitioners should speak with women who are feared to be at risk of developing breast cancer (“Breast Cancer”, 2013).
To understand the role that USPTF plays, it is crucial to recognize the impact of screening on community health. Screening has been credited with reducing the cost of healthcare and enhancing patient outcomes (McKeirman, Panther & Akers, 2015). Furthermore, screening allows for preventive measures to be instituted particularly in cases where the screening reveals certain risks and hazards that could hamper community health. Screening facilitates health promotion and maintenance by encouraging the adoption of a proactive approach. Instead of waiting for an illness to develop, through screening, patients and their practitioners can take steps to eliminate the illness. When selecting, developing and targeting screening programs, practitioners are usually guided by various principles. These principles include reliability, affordability, acceptability, and accuracy of the screening tools. Other principles are early treatment and ensuring that the disease for which the screening is being conducted is clinically significant (“Principles of Screening”, n.d). As they conduct screening, practitioners should adhere to these principles.
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References
Breast Cancer: medications for risk reduction. (2013). USPTF. Retrieved February 23, 2019 from https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/UpdateSummaryFinal/breast-cancer-medications-for-risk-reduction
McKeirman, K. C., Panther, S. G., & Akers, J. M. (2015). Redesigning the traditional community health screening model to provide blood glucose screening and interdisciplinary health education. Clinical Diabetes, 33 (4), 189-192.
Perinatal depression: preventive interventions. (2019). USPTF. Retrieved February 23, 2019 from https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/UpdateSummaryFinal/perinatal-depression-preventive-interventions
Principles of screening. (n.d). Retrieved February 23, 2019 from https://ime.acponline.org/content/topics/ime1_gm_ch030_s2
U.S Preventive Services Task Force. (2018). USPTF. Retrieved February 23, 2019 from https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/
