A regular hospital check-up is an essential tool that helps the entire population to find out
their health status and any potential life issues before they become a problem. Unfortunately,
many people do not devote their time to attending such screenings for one reason or the other.
This has impacted negatively the effectiveness of disease management.
To start with, a subset of people reports a low perceived need to seek medical care (Taber
et al.,2015). More often, these people tend to think that their illnesses will improve over time or
only seek consultation if they think that it is getting more serious. Consequently, many try to
treat themselves by either using over-the-counter drugs, spiritual healing, or natural remedies. In
the long run, they end up trying to treat a disease that they are not suffering from, delay timely
diagnosis of the disease, or even die before seeking medication.
Secondly, traditional barriers to medical care are also are contributing factors. High costs
of medical care, lack of insurance covers, and time constraints, just to mention a few (Harte et
al.,2008). Some report that they are too sick to travel to the hospital facility while others are
entirely unaware that the services are offered in the hospitals. As a result, many people end up
succumbing to otherwise preventable illnesses.
In addition, several people have formed unfavorable evaluations for not seeking medical
screening. These include feelings that the physicians are paying more attention to computers or
rather not happy with the way the doctors communicate to them. Besides, many also fear
embarrassment in case their results turn out to be bad news for them. As a result, many end up
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developing low confidence in the doctors as they may think that their concerns are not being
addressed most adequately (Harte et al.,2008)
In conclusion, it is upon the healthcare fraternity to understand why most people do not
make it to the clinic doors so that they can extend the reach and effectiveness of patient care
without which the disease burden may end up overwhelming the healthcare systems.
References
Harte, E. MacLure, B., Martine, M., Saunders, C. l., Maeds, C., Walter, F.M., Griffins, S.J., Usher-
Smith, J. A (2008) Reasons why people do not attend NHS Health checks: A systematic review
and qualitative synthesis. The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of Royal College
of General Practitioners, 68(666), e28-e35. https;//doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693929
Taber, J.M., Leyva,B., & Persoskie, A. (2015). Why do people avoid medical care? Qualitative study
using national data. A Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(3), 290-297.
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