Preventive medicine
Cruz Cuevas, E.I.
Boletin de la Asociacion Medica de Puerto Rico 97(1): 67-68
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-4849 Document Number: 703035
Prevention in primary medicine consists of screening for conditions that are unapparent but are clinically important and treatable, so the patient should be counseled to make an appropriate decision regarding undergoing screening or not. Preventive measures have the goal to preserve function and quality of life. The disease to be prevented must be clinically important in order to impact morbidity and mortality of patients. It is not acceptable to do screening for conditions that do not have at present an effective and acceptable treatment option, or worse that may have a detrimental effect in the health of a person. Nowadays, there exists a highly educated population that searches for orientation in nonmedical sources such as newspapers and the Internet. The physician must present clearly the alternatives, so patients will have an active role in deciding to be screened or not. In the same way, such decisions should be documented in the medical record since this is important for accreditation and qualification of patients encounters.
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