3. At the health center

We have previously looked at the various symptoms and the diseases related to these symptoms. The onset of symptoms or a change in behaviour is a warning to go to the health center as soon as possible to be examined by healthcare workers.

Only healthcare workers can recognise a disease and prescribe the appropriate medicine to treat it if necessary.

They can also explain how to take medicine and can give more general advice, for example, on how to prevent the onset of diseases.

Going to the health center: an important step !

Seeing and knowing how to recognise symptoms of a disease is an important first step, the responsibility for which lies with the patient's family.

Apart from obvious symptoms, you need to be aware of less noticeable ones or changes in behaviour, such as loss of appetite, difficulty in seeing, hearing or speaking, restless sleep, repeated loss of attention, or repeated occurrences of brief loss of consciousness., etc.

Sometimes, the person with symptoms does not always realise or thinks that “it will pass”. It is then up to the family to decide whether to take the person to the health center.

Parents of young children should take the initiative to regularly consult healthcare workers, even when there are no symptoms, to check that the child is gaining sufficient weight, is growing well, is developing normally, and for administering the recommended vaccinations.

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What happens during a visit to the health center

• Medical history

If the healthcare workers have the patient’s medical or care records, they will start by consulting this. This document will inform them about any potential health problems the patient may have, as well as medicine already prescribed: it is called a medical history. This information can help healthcare workers to diagnose (identify the disease) and prescribe the most appropriate medicine.

• Questions

Healthcare workers ask patients and possibly people accompanying them, specific questions to gather information about the onset and progression of symptoms.

It is important to inform healthcare workers about any symptoms you have noticed, to help them accurately identify the disease you have.

• Examination

Healthcare workers examine the patient who is generally lying on an examination table.

-They look at the visible symptoms that the patient has told them about and touch the corresponding areas of the body.

- They look at other areas of the body for other possible symptoms that the patient may not have noticed: they listen to heartbeats and breathing, look down the throat and in the ears, and examine nails and skin.

If the healthcare workers consider it necessary, they can ask for more detailed examinations, like a blood test or an X-ray (a technique that “photographs” the human body to look at the skeleton for instance).

• Diagnosis

Once all the necessary tests have been performed, healthcare workers make their diagnosis, i.e., they identify the disease causing the symptoms observed and its degree of severity.

• Prescription

The healthcare workers tell the patients what care and treatment they will have to undergo: the name of the medicines, of course, but also how and when to take them (before, during or after meals), the times when they should be taken and the duration of treatment.

They also specify the likely progression of the disease to recovery and indicate when the patient should return to the health center during treatment for a check-up or assessment.

Finally, they should give general advice on diet, rest, possible relaxation, but also recommendations for protection against disease.

The prescription is usually written on a document, the prescription form, which must be legible. If the healthcare workers have the patient's medical or care records, they can also write down the details of the visit to the health center for reference at a later visit. So, it is important to keep these documents and bring them with you on each visit.

The dose of medicine prescribed should not be changed (increased or reduced) without prior consultation with healthcare workers.