Introduction to Health Checks

1. Introduction to Health Checks

2. Learning objectives • Familiarisation with the Well Persons and Well Child Health Check tool • Understand the relationship between screening and health checks • Understand why health checks should be done

3. What are Health Checks? • Preferred format for screening of all adults and children in rural and remote areas • Play a major role in chronic disease prevention, detection and management

4. Chronic Disease Guidelines • Health checks constitute a large part of the chronic disease guidelines. • Evidence based tool for use at the primary health care level

5. Health Checks Compiled and developed based on: • Medicare mandatory requirements : • linked to Medicare Items • Recommendations of a number of organisations specialising in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and primary health care

6. Why do we need to screen? • Monitor a child’s growth • Monitor individual health status • Identify and respond to risk factors and health problems • Respond to health problems early to prevent further complications in adult life

7. Why are they needed? • Poor health of individuals • Poor health of population • Higher than average infant mortality rate • Decreased life expectancy in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population • High rates of chronic disease

8. Data collection Health Check data needs to be collected to • Record sequential information on clients • Identify population trends • The primary health information system Ferret® has been set up to collect this information – • System development and/or manual recording would be required for organisations not using Ferret

9. Learning Activity Please complete the learning activity