Prevention and early detection in family medicine: where are we?

During the past 10 years, there has been important progress in the development of prevention and early detection of diseases in family medicine. The key feature in this development has been the increasing availability of evidence-guided recommendations. More recently, attention has begun to focus, as well, on challenges of implementing actions of proven benefit, spurred by the recommendations of the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination. The author evaluates the current situation and suggests some strategies for family physicians to implement effective preventive manoeuvres.