Most people require both preventative care and diagnostic medical attention to stay as healthy as possible. However, for many people, the differences between these two treatment types often become blurred. At Fairview Clinic in Dothan, AL, compassionate, skilled physicians provide both forms to ensure their patients receive comprehensive medical care.

The Primary Differences Between Preventative Care & Diagnostic Medical Care

What Is Preventative Care?

As the name suggests, preventative care consists of medical services that help to prevent illness and disease, or to detect issues when symptoms may not be obvious. Common preventative care services include immunizations, lab tests, and screenings.

If you have no history of high blood pressure, regular screenings will help to monitor your blood pressure and point out changes as soon as they occur. Such proactive measures will help you and your doctor prevent high blood pressure and the diseases commonly associated with it.

What Is Diagnostic Medical Care?

While preventative care works to prevent possible medical issues, diagnostic medical care seeks to treat problems you are already experiencing. This could include monitoring symptoms, examining new symptoms, or following up on abnormal test results.

For example, if you notice a breast lump, your physician would order a mammogram to determine if the lump was cancerous or not. While this could occur at any point in a woman’s life, preventative care mammograms are usually ordered for women as soon as they turn 55—as the risk of developing breast cancer increases at this point. If the diagnostic mammogram screening returns normal results, subsequent screenings would be considered preventative care.

If you are searching for a primary physician in Dothan that provides complete medical care, contact the team at Fairview Clinic today. Schedule a consultation by calling (334) 794-3192, or visit them online to learn more about the diagnostic and preventative care services they provide.