prevention /-ven″shən/ [L, praevenire, to anticipate] , (in nursing care) actions directed to preventing illness and promoting health to reduce the need for secondary or tertiary health care. Prevention includes such nursing actions as assessment, including disease risk; application of prescribed measures, such as immunization; health teaching; early diagnosis and treatment; and recognition of disability limitations and rehabilitation potential. In acute care nursing many interventions are simultaneously therapeutic and preventive.
