The reasons for the yearly well-woman visit with one’s doctor have been disappearing. The routine pelvic exam and annual Pap smear are things of the past, and it’s up to your primary care clinician to decide what the visit should entail.
Your doctor or increasingly, nurse practitioner or physician assistant will measure your height and weight, take your blood pressure, and listen to your heart and lungs. He or she may review your health history, see if you’re up to date with immunizations and screening tests, and offer advice on lowering your risk factors for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. You may have a blood test for cholesterol and blood sugar. Then, if you don’t need follow-up care, it’s goodbye until next year. Opt Annual Health Check Up.
Is The Annual Examining Still Worthwhile?
In recent years, several health organizations have questioned the value of the yearly physical. A 2012 analysis of 14 studies involving more than 180,000 people by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international group of researchers who review and consolidate the results of medical studies found that the annual exam doesn’t save people’s lives or health care dollars.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean seeing your doctor every year. When you’re young and generally healthy, you may only need to see your doctor every two or three years, Dr Carlson says. But if you’re over 50, the annual visit is still a good idea.
What Can An Annual Examination Do For You?
As the number of primary care doctors—and the time allotted for office visits—continue to decline, the annual exam may be evolving into more of a “check-in” than a check-up. However, it serves to establish the following:
An ongoing relationship with your clinician. Although you may see specialists from time to time, you tend to go to them when you already have a specific medical problem. In contrast, your primary care clinician has seen you over a longer period of time both in sickness and in health—and is better able to sense physical or emotional changes in you that may signal a developing disease or a decline in health.
You’re also much more likely to be open and honest with a clinician you’ve known for a while. Issues such as alcohol or drug use, domestic violence, caregiver burden, depression, and stress are extremely important determinants of health and are easier to talk about with someone you know and trust.
Continuity of medical records. Like many of us, you may not have kept a record of every visit, immunization, and test you’ve had. Your physician’s office will have records of all the care you’ve received there and should be able to provide those records if you need them. And because the office has your records, your clinicians can remind you when you need a tetanus shot, mammogram, colonoscopy, or other immunizations and screenings.
Personalized health care. Your primary care clinician has a good sense of your overall health. He or she can evaluate your personal risk factors for the leading causes of disability and death, put them in perspective for you, and help you work toward lifestyle changes to minimize them.
The annual visit provides a great opportunity to take stock of how you’re progressing toward those goals. The annual visit is also a good time for a “brown-bag” review of the prescription and over-the-counter drugs you’re taking. Bring all your medications to your visit so your clinician can help you determine whether you need to be taking every one of them. Opt for Employee Assistance Programs.
