Diagnostic Testing & Preventative Screening: Emergency Room Near You
You don’t always have to end up at an emergency room near you for a severe health condition. This is because you can be able to take control of your health by ensuring that you are aware of any health risks that are lurking in the shadows based on your lifestyle or family medical history. This will enable you to know how to react to any news you may get as far as your health is concerned and therefore take the necessary steps to be able to sidestep any severe consequences that may lead you to end up in an emergency room near you. This is where the age old debate of diagnostic testing and preventative screening comes in as this speaks to the heart of keeping healthy and nipping health conditions in the bud. The two are usually used interchangeably but are actually different in many ways and as such it is important to know the difference between the two as you plan for your health. This article will look to highlight the differences between the two as well as why one of the two is likely to be done in an emergency room.
The first thing to mention as far as the differences between the two is concerned is that while preventative screening is done to detect early disease or risk factors for certain diseases and is done when you are healthy, without any symptoms and with no reason to believe that you may be sick, diagnostic testing is done to establish the presence, or absence, of a disease when you are already showing symptoms and as such have reason to believe that you are sick. This means that while preventative screening is mostly done at your primary doctor’s office, at your own behest, diagnostic testing can be done in emergency room near you if you are showing signs of a severe and emergency condition. This means that while you can chose whether or not to undergo preventative screening, that may not be an option when it comes to diagnostic testing especially if you are in the emergency room with symptoms that indicate a potentially life-threatening condition. So, the main difference among the two is that diagnostic testing is done to establish or rule out or in a particular disease while preventative screening is done to detect if there are any potential indicators and risk factors for disease.
Another main difference between the two is that while preventative screening is available to a large number of folks out there who may feel like they are at risk for a certain condition or disease even though they are not showing any symptoms yet, diagnostic tests are a bit restricted in terms of who can get them as they are done on only those individuals already presenting with symptoms so that a certain condition or disease may be ruled out or in or they can also be done to those patients who have gotten a positive screening test for a particular condition or disease. As such, when you go to an emergency room near you for symptoms of a certain severe disease or condition, you will get diagnostic testing done and not preventative screening. The testing method involved as far as preventative screening is concerned is usually simple and easy to accept while on the other hand the testing method as far as diagnostic testing goes may be a little more invasive and you may have to be explained to and convinced why such the test is necessary. In most cases, patients accept that even though the diagnostic test may be uncomfortable and invasive, it is necessary to get an accurate diagnosis of their disease or condition.
A positive result when you get preventative screening done usually only indicates that there is a high likelihood the disease or condition may occur or that there is suspicion that the disease or condition may be present and that further testing, usually diagnostic testing, may be required for confirmation. On the other hand, a positive result in diagnostic testing is definitive and provides a definitive diagnosis of your condition or disease. Diagnostic testing is therefore designed to put more weight on being accurate and precise as the results are what will govern treatment and therefore need to be as accurate and precise as possible, as is the case in the diagnostic tests done in an emergency room since any sort of misdiagnosis could be catastrophic and have severe consequences for the patient and even lead to loss of life. There is also a difference in costs between the two and here you will find that while preventative screening is cheap, with most health facilities offering preventative screenings free or with very little extra costs as part of any treatment or tests you may be getting, diagnostic testing is usually more expensive. However, the cost is worth it if you are to get an accurate diagnosis of your condition.
Hopefully, through this article you will know the difference between diagnostic and preventative screening and as such you can be able to take control of your health and prevent any unwanted consequences that may land you in an emergency room near you.
