Myths of Preventive Medicine

Host: Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP Guest: H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH Preventive medicine in primary care has traditionally focused on health promotion and disease prevention. Due to advances in technology, a typical well visit may now include a series of tests to detect early disease. How is this shift toward preventive medicine affecting patient care, survival outcomes and health care costs? And how can physicians decide when is the optimal time to screen for cancer and other conditions? Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine and community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, and author of Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not, and Here’s Why, joins host Dr. Jennifer Shu to examine the realities behind our growing expectations of preventive care.