Putting prevention into practice

Abstract

In primary medical care settings, disease prevention services are delivered at lower rates than recommended. Furthermore, practitioners tend to overestimate the rate at which they perform them. There are essentially two steps in delivering evidence-based preventive services: (1) knowing what the evidence is for performing various detection and intervention manoeuvres, and (2) integrating the preventive services into daily practice. The first is a scientific process and is carried out in Canada by the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination. However, after a decade of experience with evidence-based guidelines, we now know that guidelines are not enough. Integrating clinical prevention into busy practices is a political and logistical process. This truth is best captured by the quip, "An ounce of prevention requires a pound of office system change". A number of studies have demonstrated that continuing medical education (CME) courses and workshops for physicians are not enough to ensure that clinical preventive services are incorporated into practice. According to Lomas, the traditional CME educational approaches need to be complemented by strategies from such paradigms as the social influence model, the diffusion of innovation model and the adult learning model. Battista, in "From Science to Practice," points out the complexity of the communication process required for the diffusion of innovation into practice. Walsh's Systems Model of Clinical Preventive care best captures the interacting factors that mediate between practitioners' intentions and their actions when it comes to delivering clinical prevention services. This paper reports on a practical example of helping family practitioners develop a "sustaining office system in prevention" that minimizes barriers, focuses energy and integrates clinical prevention into office routines. The key components are (i) a practice coordinator for prevention, (ii) clear clinical prevention-related job descriptions for all persons who deal with patients, (iii) an information management system that reinforces prevention, and (iv) a practice feedback and problem solving strategy.