Perhaps this is a reflection of the American Urologic Association partnership with the pharmaceutical industry in offering free PSA testing and a digital rectal examination every year at the annual Prostate Cancer Awareness week. For almost every question in the survey, we find that older professionals are having tests done more frequently than younger professionals. This most likely represents a cost-effective use of the screening tests. It is appropriate that physicians recommend these tests to those patients or even for themselves when incidence and risk factors apply. In the past, the primary focus of healthcare was the treatment of disease and was based on the study of illness.
Today there is a trend to redirect our thinking and to focus on wellness instead of illness.
More and more Americans are interested in their health and well-being than ever before and are eager to find methods of participating in preventive health measures. Our profession has set a very high standard for the evaluation of preventive health services. In addition to demonstrating that a periodic examination and testing detects disease in its early stages, when treatment is more effective or can result in a cure, the examination and testing have to be shown to be cost-effective. By seeking out a physician, a sick patient initiates an episode of care. The physician's responsibility is to help, not to guarantee a good outcome.