- Okay, let's get your blood pressure, Laurel.

- [Laurel] Okay.

- It's really important for you to sit down with your doctor and make an individual plan for your screenings.

Gonna feel a little squeeze.

My name is Dr. Sands; I'm the medical director for Nashville Healthcare Center at Bordeaux.

On today's "For Your Good Health" I have some tips on preventive screenings.

So I like for patients to think of preventive screenings as those that are to discover conditions that you don't have symptoms for.

That's the main difference.

With diagnostic screenings, you typically have a symptom and we're doing a test to try to determine the etiology of that or the cause of that.

And with preventive screening, we're trying to find what you may not be paying attention to as a symptom or a condition that you haven't been focused on.

So we have some guidelines that we go by, but also it's really important to use shared decision making.

That's where we look at all the risk factors for a patient and together we determine what their concerns are, what my concerns are and then what available tests there are for screenings and what should be done for that patient.

(light upbeat music) There are four areas that cover preventive screenings and they include cancer, chronic diseases, heart problems and behavioral health.

The most common cancers to screen for are colon cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer.

Some are more invasive than others.

Some just require a blood test.

Some can require some imaging or x-rays and then some have more invasive testing where you have to have a colonoscopy, an invasive procedure where a specialist has to use a device to screen.

In Tennessee it's really important to screen for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and retinal disease because those conditions are very common in our area.

So for heart health, blood pressure is a major risk factor that we screen for as well as cholesterol.

And we have some blood tests that can also assist us with that are inflammatory markers for heart health.

Behavioral health is screening for anxiety, depression, sleeping disorders, and alcohol use.

Those are usually questionnaires that we go through as well as we'll take a family history as well.

And so we can quantify your risk for those conditions.

Most of the time, insurances do cover preventive screenings.

That's typically not an issue.

If you have any questions about preventive screenings just talk to your doctor and make a plan.

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