title: Health promotion and disease prevention. Roles for the primary care physician.
abstract: The practice of health promotion and disease prevention (HPDP), an increasingly important approach to healthcare, includes influencing health behaviors of the population at risk for disease as well as environmental conditions that affect health. The major role of the clinician in HPDP is at the individual level: screening for risk factors and disease and providing early treatment, advice, counseling, and referral. Primary care physicians can broaden their impact by assuming roles at organizational, community, and government levels (eg, as an active member of an organization or a consultant to an outside organization, a community leader or an agent of change, an influential constituent or a lobbyist). These roles enable primary care physicians to have an impact both on individuals and on environments to reduce disease risk factors.
mesh_terms: D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D010821:Physicians, Family; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D012380:Role; D014481:United States