A health assessment is a plan of
care
Care may refer to:
Organizations and projects
* CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation
* CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...
that identifies the specific needs of a person and how those needs will be addressed by the
healthcare system
A health system, health care system or healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that delivers health care services to meet the health needs of target populations.
There is a wide variety of health systems aroun ...
or
skilled nursing facility. Health assessment is the evaluation of the health status by performing a
physical exam
In a physical examination, medical examination, clinical examination, or medical checkup, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally consists of a series of questions ...
after taking a
health history. It is done to detect diseases early in people that may look and feel well.
Evidence does not support routine health assessments in otherwise healthy people.
Health assessment is the evaluation of the health status of an individual along the health continuum. The purpose of the assessment is to establish where on the health continuum the individual is because this guides how to approach and treat the individual. The health care approaches range from
preventive, to
treatment, to
palliative care
Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...
in relation to the individual's status on the health continuum. It is not the treatment or
treatment plan
Treatment may refer to:
* "Treatment" (song), a 2012 song by
* Film treatment, a prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay
* Medical treatment also known as "therapy"
* Sewage treatment
* Surface treatment or surface fin ...
. The plan related to findings is a care plan which is preceded by the specialty such as medical,
physical therapy
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...
,
nursing
Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
, etc.
Corporate health assessments
Research by Data Bridge Market Research shows that the market for corporate health assessments which was USD 2,91,272.4 million in 2023, is likely to reach USD 8,23,374.65million by 2031 and is expected to undergo a CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period.
Healthcare providers such as Bupa and Nuffield now routinely offer health assessments to individuals and corporate clients, building on the growing market for these services.
Definitions of health assessment are varied, with some using the term health assessment and health checks interchangeably.
UK healthcare provider Verve Healthcare makes a clear difference:
* A staff health check is a routine examination conducted by a health professional to assess an individual's overall health status. The primary aim is to identify health issues early, to monitor ongoing health conditions and to monitor future health risks.
* Health assessments are more detailed than regular health checks. They provide a holistic view of an individual's health and can identify underlying health conditions.
History
''Health assessment'' has been separated by authors from physical assessment to include the focus on health occurring on a continuum as a fundamental teaching.
[Zator Estes, M. (2006). Health assessment and physical examination. Independence, KY: Delmar Cengage Learning] In the
healthcare industry
The healthcare industry (also called the medical industry or health economy) is an aggregation and integration of sectors within the economic system that provides goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, ...
it is understood health occurs on a continuum, so the term used is ''assessment'' but may be preference by the speciality's focus such as nursing, physical therapy, etc. In healthcare, the assessment's focus is biopsychosocial but the intensity of focus may vary by the type of healthcare practitioner. For example, in the emergency room the focus is chief complaint and how to help that person related to the perceived problem. If the problem is a heart attack then the intensity of focus is on the biological/physical problem initially.
See also
*
Nursing assessment
Nursing assessment is the gathering of information about a patient's physiological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual status by a licensed Registered Nurse. Nursing assessment is the first step in the nursing process. A section of the nu ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Health Assessment
Diagnosis codes
Medical terminology