Goals for Health Treatment Plans

For some conditions and diseases, a doctor might place a patient on an extensive health treatment plan. The goals for these particular plans may differ, depending on what condition is being treated, but they each have the common goal of trying to heal the patient. Health treatment goals may include fighting a disease, improving the patient's general level of fitness, dealing with mental health issues or rehabbing an individual from either physical trauma or addiction.

Conditions

• Health treatment plans are used in attending to a variety of conditions from which an individual may suffer. These conditions might include disease, obesity, mental illness and accident injuries. A doctor will evaluate the condition of each patient and prescribe a particular health treatment plan to combat or alleviate the problem. A patient's individual situation will determine the appropriate plan and objective.

Objectives

• The objective of a health treatment plan, whether for physical ailments or mental health issues, is to treat the patient and alleviate her medical condition. Sometimes the objective is to completely remove or heal the problem. Other times, the goal for the health treatment plan is to manage it throughout the lifetime of a patient. Whereas an operation can be used to treat carpal tunnel syndrome, for instance, there are no procedures that can cure some mental health illnesses, so the treatment plan for these problems would be ongoing. As such, the doctor will establish a different objective from one situation to the next.

Treatments

• Health treatment plans rely on a variety of methods to achieve the goal of improving a patient's health and allowing him to live as normal a life as possible. Treatments range from surgeries to exercise plans, from chemotherapy to counseling and medication.

  The lengths of treatments can vary. Some, such as surgery, are relatively short and only require the primary action and recovery. Other treatment plans are required for the life of the patient. An example of a lifelong treatment would be medicating an individual for mental health issues, like bipolar disease.

Physical vs. Mental Treatment Plans

• Physical ailments might be the first conditions which come to mind when someone is thinking about health treatment plans, but these don't encompass all forms of treatment. Mental health issues affect, on average, 1 out of every 4 people during the course of a year, according to the Mental Health Foundation. Many health treatment plans for mental health problems are addressed with the use of medicine, like selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), in conjunction with counseling sessions with a licensed counselor or psychologist.

Rehabilitation

• After an accident or physically traumatic event, a patient may need to undergo extensive rehabilitation work as part of a long-term treatment for any injuries suffered. A rehab plan will include various exercises and stretches to strengthen muscles and joints. This promotes the proper mechanical functioning of the muscular and skeletal systems. The goal for a physical rehabilitation health plan is to get the patient's body working the way it was before the injury.