AlphaMED Resources · https://alphamedicine.uk/Resources/glossary/screening
Screening
Screening is the process of identifying apparently healthy people who may have an increased chance of a disease or condition.
Summary
- Screening is offered to apparently healthy people, meaning people with no signs of the condition, and taking part should always be a personal choice.
- Finding a condition early can save lives or improve quality of life.
- No programme guarantees protection. Every one produces some false positive results, which are false alarms, and some false negative results, which are missed cases.
- NHS England runs the national programmes, including breast, bowel, cervical, diabetic eye and newborn blood spot screening.
In Hong Kong
- The Cervical Screening Programme mainly uses two kinds of test, the HPV test and the cytology test.
- The Government's Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme subsidises screening in the private sector for residents aged 50 to 75 who have no symptoms.
Interview questions
- Why is screening offered to people who feel well?
- A patient asks why a screening test missed their cancer. How do you respond?
- Should screening be offered for a condition that has no effective treatment?
Sources
- GOV.UKgov.uk/…/population-screening-explained
- GOV.UKgov.uk/…/population-screening-programmes
- cervicalscreening.gov.hkcervicalscreening.gov.hk/…/screening.html
- colonscreen.gov.hkcolonscreen.gov.hk/…/background_of_programme.html
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More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.