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In response to the questioning of Health Policy and Management (HPAM) by colleagues on the role of rank and file family physicians in the same journal, the author, a family physician in Belgium, is trying to highlight the complexity and depth of the work of his colleagues and their contribution to the understanding of the organization and economy of healthcare. It addresses, in particular, the management of health elements throughout the ongoing relationship of the family doctor with his/her patients. It shows how the three dimensions of prevention, clearly included in the daily work, are complemented with the fourth dimension, quaternary prevention or prevention of medicine itself, whose understanding could help to control the economic and human costs of healthcare.

No abstract

Towards patient-doctor relationship based careClinical prevention, under the influence of public health, has been organised in a chronologicalmanner since the middle of the 20th century. A paradigm shift from a chronological to a constructivist relationship-based preventive pattern of care1 offers new insights into the practice of doctors. This paradigm shift brings to light the concept of quaternary prevention, a critical look at medical activities with an emphasis on the need not to harm. Quaternary prevention addresses the fundamental question of what constitutes too much or too little medicine. It is the fourth form of disease prevention, but also the fourth frame of action for family doctors (Figure 1). The shift from time-based prevention towards a relationship-based organisation offers new perspectives into physicians’ work. The physicians observe themselves and question the ethical limits of their activities. In this sense, quaternary prevention is aimed more at the doctor than the patient. Moreover, the four definitions of prevention, published in the Wonca Dictionary of Family Medicine,2 offer a structured way to discuss the activities of family doctors, including ethical considerations on the patient-doctor encounter. Quaternary prevention, also known as P4, is a new term for an old concept: first, do not harm. This concept enforces disciplines and attitudes such as evidence-based medicine, quality assurance, defensive medicine, avoiding abusive nosographic diagnoses and ethical issues including those linked to overinformation, and overmedicalisation.

O conceito de Prevenção Quaternária, um questionamento sobre a base da ação médica, nasceu na articulação da relação médico-paciente. Refere-se a toda a atividade médica, sendo uma importante ferramenta para a medicina de família. É uma interrogação ética sobre os excessos da demasiada e demasiadamente pouca medicina e fornece algumas respostas.