1. Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Define population medicine and distinguish it from curative medicine

• Explain how physicians routinely practice population medicine in the care of their individual patients

• Describe how clinical and population-based interventions differ in their ability to affect health determinants

• Describe the theory, practice, and costs of clinical prevention

• Distinguish between clinical and population-based preventive interventions in terms of their relative risks and benefits

• Characterize the elderly as a defined population and explain how a population approach to geriatric medicine differs from a strictly clinical approach

2. Readings

• Campos-Outcalt D Sr. US Preventive Services Task Force: the gold standard of evidence-based prevention. Journal of Family Practice. 54(6):517-9, 2005 Jun.

• United States Preventive Services Task Force. Familiarize yourself with this valuable website. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm

• Takahashi PY. Okhravi HR. Lim LS. Kasten MJ. Preventive health care in the elderly population: a guide for practicing physicians . Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 79(3):416-27, 2004 Mar.

3. Additional Resource

• Demographics. Merck Manual of Geriatrics