Is prevention unbalancing general practice?
Russell, G.M.
Medical Journal of Australia 183(2): 104-105
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-729X PMID: 16022627 Document Number: 593772
Australia has begun to encourage and financially reward general practitioners for implementing preventive activities. While an expanding preventive agenda for general practice remains attractive, there is a real potential for opportunity costs, especially in the absence of realistic practice-based support for preventive care. These costs may include a shift from the needs of individual patients to those of the community. It is crucial not to neglect the concept of relationship-centred primary care (which may actually enhance preventive activities), as well as enhancing the preventive environment of the practice, when considering strategies to improve preventive uptake.