Deck 24: Primary Care and Public Health

Question 1

Primary care is usually, but not always, the portal of entry through which individuals obtain medical services. Discuss some of the individual health care services routinely delivered through primary care.

Answer 1

Some of the individual health care services routinely delivered through primary care include:
-Diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic illnesses
-Health promotion
-Disease prevention
-Health maintenance
-Counseling
-Patient education
-Coordination of individuals' health care services
-Advocacy for individuals as they navigate the health care system
-Promotion of safe, high-quality, and cost-effective care

Question 2

Physicians are not the only primary care providers in the U.S. health care system. Training of advanced practice nurses, including nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), has grown rapidly. How do these clinicians enhance the primary care workforce?

Answer 2

These clinicians enhance the primary care workforce in two ways. In many practices, they serve as members of primary care teams, focusing, for example, on well visits, patient education, or less complex patients. A growing number of states now allow PAs and NPs to function as independent practitioners, diagnosing and treating patients and prescribing medications without physician supervision.