Preventive Medicine in General Practice
نویسنده
چکیده
setting for prevention (9), (10); the general practitioner has frequent contact with the majority of a defined population, including those at risk. He or she is perceived as credible and trustworthy, communicates on a one to one basis with the patient and is supported by a primary care team. The potential for preventive medicine in general practice is beginning to be explored (11)?(15). Despite recent advances, the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1981 (16) professed ignorance of the extent and thoroughness with which General Practitioners undertook preventive care. A subsequent random selection of 5% of 1302 tape recorded consultations undertaken by 16 General Practitioners showed that prevention was discussed in 23% of consultations (17). A postal questionnaire of 193 General Practitioners (18) found a high level of interest in certain preventive activities, particularly smoking prevention. However, an evaluation of 8,500 patients, notes from 38 practices (19) found that information about smoking habits was recorded in only 23% of the notes. Many further questions remain. "We need to ask how many patients on a practice list will visit their doctors when well in order to discuss preventive measures such as diet, exercise, or means of changing a health-threatening habit, and how much time or informed discussion general practitioners will be willing to devote to the interview" (Taylor, 1982). A recent survey of patients from 47 practices (20) suggested that patients are concerned about their lifestyles and would welcome relevant advice, but in many cases they felt that they received insufficient health education from their General Practitioners. On the other hand, Smail (1982) warns of the ".... dangers in an over-enthusiastic approach to preventive care, particularly if the doctor gives a great deal of heavy-handed proscriptive advice. There is some risk of alienating the patient...." This study was designed to record
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عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 103 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1988