Problems in cancer screening in the older patient.

If prevention is to become a structured portion of medical care, a complex societal and professional learning process will have to occur in order to change the practice of medicine. Physicians, together with other health professionals, must work to remove the barriers and to determine the social, medical and personal activities necessary to preserve a high quality of life for their patients over a full lifespan. To accomplish this, the physician must not only treat disease but also promote a healthy living environment. With the increasing amounts of valid information available on the effectiveness of health care interventions, the areas of cancer prevention and control become mandatory pursuits for both the physician and the patient; this must be an integral part of medical practice, especially for the primary care patient.