Person-centered prevention and health promotion

Since at least the time of Hippocrates in the 5th century AD, doctors have sought to prevent diseases, as well as to offer treatments and cures, and consideration of preventive advice remains an essential element of every medical encounter. In 1979, Stott and Davies listed four possible components of each consultation in primary care [1]. The last of these was opportunistic health promotion, advice made more effective by being directly linked to the content of the preceding consultation. For example, advice to stop smoking is proportionately more powerful when it is linked to an episode of acute bronchitis or a first presentation of angina. In contrast, the blanket application of preventive imperatives poses a grave threat to authentically person-centered medicine.