Levels and examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare

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Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Care

Primary Care

Primary care, also called the medical care, is the first point of contact between the patient and the health care unit, which can be an office or clinic (Timby, 200). The patient visits health care unit and meets doctors, physicians or nurse practitioners for concerns like cold, flu and bacterial or viral infections. Primary care also includes visiting hospital for a sore muscle, skin problems or broken bone. There are also some primary care specialists; for instance OB-GYNs, pediatricians, geriatricians etc.

Example

A person suffering from fever since last seven days visits to hospital for meeting general physician. Physician after his check up concludes that nothing is apparently wrong so blood test should be performed in the laboratory to find out the cause of fever. Blood report reveals after three days that person is suffering from typhoid. Doctor recommends an antibiotic and advice to have soft food. Patient visits doctor after two weeks and again blood test is performed which gives negative result. All the activities performed by the health care unit in treating this patient come under the category of primary care.

Secondary Care

Secondary care is the care provided by a specialized doctor who has expertise in a particular field (Niles, 2011). The primary care takers usually recommend visiting specialized doctors for a particular problem. For instance, a general physician might recommend a patient to a cardiologist if the patient complains that he feels pain near chest. Similarly, there are dermatologists for solving skin problems, oncologists for treating cancer patients and endocrinologists for fixing the hormonal issues.

Example

A woman trying to get pregnant since last two years is continuously facing failure and fertility medicines are not working on her. Her doctor finally concludes that the only thing, which can solve her fertility problem, is her weight. She suggested her to lose weight and follow a diet plan. However, the doctor herself was not the right person to tell her the diet plan so she recommended her to the nutritionist. The nutritionist guided her about the complete diet plan and explained her which foods can help her lose weight and increase fertility.

Tertiary Care

Tertiary care is the most complex and higher level of specialty care given to a patient when admitted in the hospital. Highly specialized equipment, facilities and expertise is required for this type of care (Wheeler and Grice, 2000). Treatments performed in this care include bypass surgery, plastic surgeries, neurosurgeries, burning treatments etc.

Example

A patient diagnosed with breast cancer by oncologists was decided to be given tertiary care by removing her one breast. The patient was admitted in hospital two days before the surgery and was keep under special observation and on special diet. Specialist performed the surgery in a specialized room and patient was monitored constantly even after the surgery.

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

This type of insurance plan gives is acceptable by hospitals and clinics that have certain number of doctors and general physicians. Therefore it is acceptable at institutions which gave provide the primary care.

Participating Provider Options (PPOs)

This type of plan is acceptable by institutes that have some doctors and specialists. There is no need to meet physician first and get referral for specialist, patient can directly go to the specialists and get the secondary care.

Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHPs)

It is actually a high level of PPO plan, accepted by well-equipped medical institutes and have highly specialized doctors and surgeons for providing tertiary care to the patients.