In their recent article ‘Quaternary prevention: a balanced approach to demedicalisation’,1 Norman and Tesser (N&T) presented Kuehlein et al’s original definition of quaternary prevention as:
‘An action taken to identify a patient at risk of over-medicalization, to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions which are ethically acceptable.’ 2
They concluded that this definition is more comprehensive than a new definition recently proposed by Brodersen et al:
‘Action taken to protect individuals (persons/patients) from medical interventions that are likely to cause more harm than good.’ 3
Here we elaborate further on this new definition that we strongly support and have already put into a general practice setting.4
First of all, we agree that quaternary prevention needs to be globally disseminated and that further research may contribute to such dissemination. The two aforementioned definitions give different perspectives on …
RCGP login
Members, please Login at RCGP to access the journal online.
Subscriber login
Enter your BJGP login information below.
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 1 day for US$35.00
Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.