What Does an Annual Checkup Involve?
During an annual physical, time is spent learning about your lifestyle choices which helps your primary care provider, which may be a Medical Doctor, Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant/Associate, teach you what the latest research shows leads to longevity and thriving as you get older. The annual physical is also an opportunity to have a complete exam to monitor your health and care for any health problems you may be having.
Part of the annual physical includes screening blood work and imaging to detect common cancers. Your primary care provider (PCP) can discuss your individual health risks based on your personal and family history. She or he will tailor health screenings based on your own history. Screening tests can detect problems early, before you experience any discomfort, and lead to more effective treatments and curable conditions.
For your annual physical exam, your primary care provider may:
- Check for swelling in your arms and legs, which can indicate problems with your vascular system and other organs
- Check your blood pressure, temperature and pulse to help form a baseline for your overall physical health. He or she can monitor these measurements over time and use any changes to help detect health issues before they get worse.
- Examine your skin for new moles or other changes
- Listen to your heart, lungs and digestive system
- Look into your ears and throat with a light to detect potential problems
What Else Will Your PCP Do?
Your annual wellness visit isn’t just about vital signs. It also allows you to establish a relationship with your PCP so that, if anything about your physical condition starts changing in the future, you and your PCP will be able to quickly figure out what’s wrong.
Developing a relationship with a primary care provider means that you can not only feel well, but stay well. If you have any acute problems or concerns, your primary care provider can be visited. This prevents long waits in urgent care centers or emergency rooms. In fact, once you establish a primary care relationship, your primary care provider can often offer you telemedicine visits in the privacy of your own home.
Beyond a physical exam, your PCP will ask questions about changes to your overall health and any new health problems family members have developed. Likewise, you can ask your PCP questions you may have about both your physical and mental health. This way, you and your PCP can team up and do a health risk assessment and come up with a personalized prevention plan to ward off any potential future health problems.
Your primary care provider will also administer any vaccines you may need. Depending on your age, you may need a new vaccine or a booster shot. The primary care provider will also recommend any age-appropriate cancer screenings and other preventive services you need. Those may include a mammogram, a colonoscopy, a low-dose CT lung cancer screening and blood tests to measure cholesterol and blood sugar.
Your PCP will help manage your medications. This will likely become more important as you get older, when you’re more likely to be on multiple medications. Among other things, your PCP will make sure your prescription and over-the-counter medications won’t cause side effects if taken together.
Your primary care provider will also want to discuss your lifestyle—what you eat, how frequently you exercise, and whether you drink alcohol or smoke. The intent is not to judge your behavior or make you feel bad. Your PCP simply wants to identify lifestyle habits that could endanger your long-term health and empower you to make changes necessary to stay as healthy as possible.
Finally, we live in an age of endless information. Your PCP can help to sort out the highest quality medical information and tailor it to your individual situation — something that you will not be able to do with internet searches.
Primary care is where your personal life story is heard, and your personal concerns are addressed. This is where you can discover the optimal choices for promoting your overall sense of wellness.
How Should You Prep for a Checkup?
There are steps you can take to be prepared for your checkup. Think about anything that’s been bothering you physically and emotionally. You’ll want to discuss symptoms such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, shortness of breath and anything else that seems out of the ordinary. It also helps to write down all your questions before the visit, so you don’t forget them when the time comes. Your primary care provider may recommend having screenings or blood tests done ahead of your appointment so you can discuss the results during the appointment.
Make sure you have any updated health insurance information ready, as well, especially if you’ve switched jobs or have a new health insurance plan. Most insurance plans will cover an annual physical exam.
How Important Are Annual Physical Exams?
Annual physical exams are important for maintaining good health and getting the preventive services you need. You should have an exam once a year when you reach your 40s. Before that, if you’re a healthy person in your 20s or 30s, you should come in at least once every two or three years. If you smoke or have a chronic condition, such as diabetes, heart disease or depression, your primary care provider may want you to come in for checkups more often, regardless of your age.
