An executive health check up is often perceived as an unnecessary expense. In reality though, it is a smart investment that can help you live a long, healthy life. But what really is an executive health check-up and what does it actually do?
An executive health check-up, also known as general check-up, full medical check-up, or just executive check-up, is a set of procedures that help screen a patient’s overall health, diagnosing potential health problems such as diseases and other health issues. The doctor may recommend treatments, medications, or lifestyle changes that can help address such health problems before they get serious.
Depending on the hospital, there can be different packages of executive check-up, with some certain additional procedures, but typical executive check-ups include the following:
1. Vital signs Check
Checking for vital signs is a routine assessment of a patient’s vital functions. This is among the most basic ways to check for potential medical issues. Checking for vital signs involves measuring the patient’s body temperature, pulse and respiratory rates, and blood pressure. A patient’s height and weight are also typically taken in order to compute the patient’s body mass index, which can be used to correlate certain conditions that are affected by the patient’s physique.
2. Blood tests
Executive check-ups also include varying degrees of blood work depending on the package. Some of the most common include complete blood count, basic metabolic panel, lipid profile test, and even blood enzyme test. These tests help assess how well your circulatory system is doing, and how prone you may be for heart diseases.
3. Urinalysis and Fecalysis
Laboratory examination of urine and stool can also help in determining your overall health. It can help test whether your urinary and digestive systems are functioning well. They can help detect issues with these systems, ranging from something as simple as dehydration to as much as cancer. True enough, there are lots of things that can be found out in one’s urine and stool.
4. X-ray
Patients undergoing executive check-ups are also typically asked to have their chest x-ray taken to provide a better view of the patient’s lungs and heart.
5. Risk for certain diseases
Executive check-ups also typically include testing for certain common diseases such as diabetes (which includes checking for fasting blood sugar), and cancer (HPV screening).
Depending on the patient’s medical history, as well as the doctor’s initial assessment, patients may also be asked to undergo certain additional diagnostic procedures such as computerized tomography (CT) scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and electrocardiogram (ECG). Other additional exams that a doctor may ask would be colonoscopy, ultrasound, as well as mammogram.
All these tests actually help assess your well-being through comparing the results to certain ranges that correspond to a healthy person.
As mentioned, there are different packages of executive check-ups that hospitals offer their patients. Some can tailor-fit their package to the specific needs of the patient, taking into consideration certain conditions that the patient has. Executive check-up packages like these are very helpful as this opens up an opportunity to be assessed for specific conditions that your medical history (or that of your family’s) suggests, as well as what the doctor would recommend you to take based on his initial assessment of your health.
Executive check-ups are very important. While it can be seen as an unnecessary expense especially since we all hope that the results show that you are healthy. However, the reality is that we need to make an effort to dig deeper, and undergo tests in order to be more certain. Certain diseases are not noticeable in the onset but they may be a cause of serious concern once they progress. So, it’s really better to be on top of your health through an executive check-up from your trusted hospital.