An Assessment of Clinically Useful Measures of the Consequences of Treatment

Abstract

WITH neither the time nor the resources available to prevent, detect, or treat every disorder in every patient, which preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic interventions should take priority? When a physician has a few spare minutes to spend with a patient, should that time be devoted to a blood pressure check, a counseling session about dietary fat, an inquiry about possible symptoms of transient cerebral ischemia, or a demonstration of how to use nicotine chewing gum?Plenty of experts are quick to tell us how we should spend this valuable time; there are now even task forces and professional review bodies . . .