Preventive health care is important and at Bayswater Family Practice we work hard to make sure each patient is up to date in terms of recommended evidence-based screening and preventive health care procedure such as immunizations.
Annual check ups aren’t always necessary but we do try to see our patients regularly to make sure that recommended discussions (such as asking about smoking and alcohol intake), examinations (such as pap tests, prostate exams and blood pressure checks), lab and xray tests (such as diabetes screening, stool testing for colon cancer, and mammograms) as well as procedures (such as vaccinations) are all kept up to date.
There is good information about recommended preventive health care interventions at the following places:
Choose Wisely Canada website here
Dr. Mike Evans cartoon video on screening test here
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care is used by many practitioners to guide what preventive health interventions are supported by evidence. They have some interesting information on their website here. We particularly find their charts on the risks and benefits of mammogram screening useful in making decisions about when to screen. Look in the tools section.
Cancer Screening
For information on BC’s colon cancer screening program please see the BC Cancer Agency site here and Vancouver Coastal Health’s site here
For cervical cancer screening see here
For breast cancer screening see here
For prostate cancer screening see here