Preventive Medicine

Traditionally, Americans went to doctors only when they were sick, and, until recently, many doctors only diagnosed and treated illness. Most physicians had little to do with prevention. Their job was to cure people when they were sick. That tradition is changing as more and more people become concerned with maintain­ing, not just regaining, their health.

Americans have long been dissatisfied with their health care system. They say that it is too complex and too expensive. They also think that it places too much emphasis on cure and not enough on prevention. Some health profes­sionals have responded to the criticisms by be­coming involved in preventive medicine. Physi­cians who practice preventive medicine are con­cerned about stopping a disease before it starts. They identify the individual risk factors of pa­tients and help patients take action to reduce their chances of becoming sick or disabled.