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Healthcare is a team endeavor, requiring physicians, nurses and other support staff to work together in order to properly care for patients. When it comes to providing care, nurses serve on the front lines, as they’re often the first to interact with incoming patients and in busier offices, they may even be able to spend more time with patients, than the doctor can. Because of this prominent position, nurses play a vital role in preventative care, and there are three general varieties of prevention that nurses engage in over the course of an average workday.

Primary

Primary prevention is all about providing information to patients. In this stage of prevention, nurses counsel patients about risk factors for various diseases, discuss relevant immunizations and offer advice about making healthy lifestyle choices, such as exercising regularly and maintaining a proper diet. Of all the prevention types, the primary stage is the most important, as it is often easier and less costly to prevent diseases than it is to treat illnesses once they appear.

Secondary

The goal of secondary prevention is to limit the fallout from an injury or disease that has already occurred. For example, at this stage, nurses help patients who have had heart attacks develop appropriate diet and exercise plans, or they may provide screenings to patients to make sure that a disease, such as cancer, hasn’t advanced. In general, the aim of secondary prevention is to halt the advancement of illnesses and prevent the recurrence of injuries.

Tertiary

Like secondary prevention, tertiary prevention deals with limiting the impact of existing illnesses or injuries, but in this case the existing problems are more advanced. In tertiary prevention, a nurse may help a patient develop life skills following a stroke or provide a patient with a plan to manage pain from arthritis. As with the other stages, tertiary prevention is focused on helping patients maintain the best possible quality of life and to provide them with tools so that they don’t exacerbate their conditions.

Trust Pulse Staffing to Find a Nursing Position for You

Nurses are vital to the healthcare industry, and Pulse Staffing has been helping qualified nurses find work at top medical facilities for over 25 years. Through our offices in Houston, San Antonio and Beaumont, we’ve helped place medical professionals in positions across central and southeast Texas, as well as nationwide through our travel nurse division. To learn how Pulse Staffing can help you find your next job, contact our team today.


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