How primary health care providers can integrate cancer prevention into practice.
Integrating prevention into practice is an important primary care challenge. Cancer prevention is a major part of this effort. In the past decade, concepts of selective longitudinal health maintenance have replaced the previous teaching that all adults should have a "complete annual physical." Physician barriers to implementing prevention include: uncertainty about conflicting recommendations; uncertainty about the value of screening tests; disorganized medical records; delayed or indirect gratification from screening; and lack of time. The following practice strategies can help overcome these barriers: adopting a scientifically based minimum core of preventive procedures; clearly identifying responsibility for prevention; engaging the patient in the responsibility for prevention; and committing resources to institutionalize prevention in the practice. The manual health maintenance flow chart is the most common tool for facilitating health maintenance tracking; however, computerized systems are being developed. The advantages and disadvantages of both types of system are addressed. A model computerized health maintenance tracking system is presented.
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Tri-County Family Medicine, Dansville, New York, 14826.
Werth
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D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008499:Medical Records; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011216:Practice Management, Medical; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*