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 (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...

that identifies the specific needs of a person and how those needs will be addressed by the healthcare system or

skilled nursing facility A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

. Health assessment is the evaluation of the health status by performing a physical exam after taking a

health history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other p ...

. 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 (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

in relation to the individual's status on the health continuum. It is not the treatment or treatment plan. 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 one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, pat ...

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

, etc.

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Health Assessment Diagnosis classification Medical terminology

History

See also

References