Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
    • Current Issue
    • Ahead of Print
    • Archives
    • Abstracts In Press
    • Special Issue Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • INFO FOR
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Call For Papers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • SUBMIT
    • Manuscript
    • Peer Review
  • ABOUT
    • The JABFM
    • Editorial Board
    • Indexing
    • Editors' Blog
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • Other Publications
    • abfm

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
American Board of Family Medicine
  • Other Publications
    • abfm
American Board of Family Medicine

American Board of Family Medicine

Advanced Search

  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
    • Current Issue
    • Ahead of Print
    • Archives
    • Abstracts In Press
    • Special Issue Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • INFO FOR
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Call For Papers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • SUBMIT
    • Manuscript
    • Peer Review
  • ABOUT
    • The JABFM
    • Editorial Board
    • Indexing
    • Editors' Blog
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • JABFM On Twitter
  • JABFM On YouTube
  • JABFM On Facebook
LetterCorrespondence

Re: Improving Performance in Prevention

David O. Parrish
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine November 2008, 21 (6) 580-581; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2008.06.080148
David O. Parrish
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

To the Editor: Dr. Newton's commentary “Improving Performance in Prevention”1 deserves clarification. I believe he means disease detection and misused the term “prevention.” Mammograms detect hopefully early enough to effect a curative treatment. Mammograms don’t “prevent.” Prevention is more of a population concept and thus, physicians have difficulty with the application to individuals regardless of interest. Prevention has a long history of success when governments become involved (sanitation, etc), and less success on an individual basis (prevention is hard to study on individual patients). This struggle brings to mind a long-standing battle in the history of medicine. The history of medicine has many caveats for today. For instance the Caduceus is not the appropriate symbol of medicine. The Caduceus is actually the symbol of Mercury in mythology and the Caduceus has been used as a symbol of commerce not medicine. The correct symbol is the Staff of Aesculapius (Asclepios). In addition, mythical medicine struggles continue today. The daughters of Aesculapius, (the god of healing), Hygeia (goddess of health), and Panacea (goddess of healing) were always at odds. Hygeia promoted hygiene and prevention, but panacea promoted treatment when ill. Physicians are much better trained to detect and treat than prevent. We should expect preventive medicine to be accomplished by governments and other population influences. I encourage all physicians to continue to emphasize prevention in our education of the individual patients, but we should concentrate on our skills in detection and treatment. Early disease detection is not prevention.

The above letter was referred to the author of the article in question, who offers the following reply.

Reference

  1. ↵
    Newton WP. Improving performance in prevention. J Am Board Fam Med 2008; 21: 258–60.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine: 21 (6)
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
Vol. 21, Issue 6
November-December 2008
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Board of Family Medicine.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Re: Improving Performance in Prevention
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Board of Family Medicine
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Board of Family Medicine web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
5 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Re: Improving Performance in Prevention
David O. Parrish
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine Nov 2008, 21 (6) 580-581; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2008.06.080148

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Re: Improving Performance in Prevention
David O. Parrish
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine Nov 2008, 21 (6) 580-581; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2008.06.080148
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Reference
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • An Approach to Hair Loss in Hijab-Wearing Individuals in Primary Care
  • Re: Impact of Geodemographic Factors on Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute, Uncomplicated Bronchitis or Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
  • Re: Diversity of Department Chairs in Family Medicine at US Medical Schools
Show more Correspondence

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues

Authors & Reviewers

  • Info For Authors
  • Info For Reviewers
  • Submit A Manuscript/Review

Other Services

  • Get Email Alerts
  • Classifieds
  • Reprints and Permissions

Other Resources

  • Forms
  • Contact Us
  • ABFM News

© 2023 American Board of Family Medicine

Powered by HighWire