Screening helps healthcare professionals identify people at high risk of having a particular disease or those who already have it, and those who are healthy. Therefore, this process can be identified as beneficial for numerous reasons. First, screening helps individuals identified with diseases to start treatment early to minimize the chances of suffering serious effects due to the disease. When recognized early, a disease may be treated easily and require low costs to manage, which makes screening programs potentially beneficial investments for healthcare organizations (Iragorri & Spackman, 2018). Those at risk of a certain disease can be guided on how to make healthier lifestyle choices following their screening results. In areas where screening programs have been introduced, disease detection and prevention rates have increased, which improves the health outcomes of the populations (Iragorri & Spackman, 2018).
Additionally, when screening is done as a disease preventive measure, it can help prevent the spread of diseases such as TB and HIV by educating affected individuals to take the necessary measures to live healthier lives. Also, when a disease is detected early, healthcare professionals can reduce the number of deaths caused by the disease. For example, when a person is seen to have cancer or at risk of having it in the screening process, the healthcare professionals advise them on what measures to take to improve the quality of life. This has an impact on individuals’ lives by helping them live longer and healthier (Givler & Givler, 2017). Lastly, screening is an important process in disease recovery and helps healthcare professionals know the progress of a disease. Healthcare professionals may also know when to stop or change treatment because of the screening process.
However, there are various disadvantages of screening in healthcare. Some of the screening tools may not be reliable or accurate at all times and can provide misleading results. For example, false negative or false positive results may be obtained; this means that a person has the condition, but the results show negative, and a person does not have a condition, but the results show positive respectively (Givler & Givler, 2017). When results are incorrect, they can be harmful to the person. However, screening is not the final diagnostic process for a disease. Some screening tests can be harmful to the body. X-rays, for example, use high radiation, which can cause harmful effects on people’s bodies. Additionally, screening processes can cause financial burdens to individuals who cannot afford to do them regularly, and as a result, people with low incomes or from disadvantaged minority groups can have high negative health effects because of the lack of screening (Levine et al., 2019). This is to mean that there are health disparities in the screening process. Besides, the screening process can also be stressful, bothering, or painful for some people. After a screening test, people can be stressed or anxious about the results. This can go on for a while since not all screening results are obtained sooner. Additionally, if the screening results are not good, an individual may be faced with tough decisions to make and deal with, especially if they do not have adequate social support, which could lead to the development of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
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