Roadmaps for Clinical Practice series: Primer on Population-Based Medicine

The introductory volume in a series on disease prevention and health promotion.

A Primer on Population-Based Medicine introduces the concept of population-based medicine as a strategy for reducing health disparities and integrating disease prevention and health promotion into routine medical care. It provides physicians with information on health disparities and suggested actions that physicians can use with their patients in clinical settings and with the community as advocates for action that will help to close the gap in existing health disparities.

Executive summary (PDF)

Full text (PDF)

The Roadmaps primer includes information on the following:

• the key national health objectives, as identified in Healthy People 2010 and the subset of ten objectives that comprise the Leading Health Indicators (LHI);
• the importance of population-based and community-based disease prevention and health promotion;
• the importance of using evidence-based strategies in intervention activities;
• the importance of health literacy to health outcomes and ensuring that patients with low health literacy are managed appropriately;
• the importance of providing culturally competent health care; and
• the importance of fostering collaboration between medicine and public health.