International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-780211201011024040Prof. of Medical & Pediatrics, Isfahan.20101102To the Readers <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By&nbsp; definition, Medicine&nbsp; is&nbsp; the&nbsp; art&nbsp; and&nbsp; science&nbsp; of&nbsp; healing.&nbsp; It&nbsp; encompasses&nbsp; a&nbsp; range&nbsp; of <br />health care practices evolved&nbsp; to maintain and restore health by&nbsp; the prevention and&nbsp; treatment <br />of illness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine). Upon graduation, medical students take the <br />Hippocratic Oath,&nbsp; including one of&nbsp; its quotes saying &ldquo;I will prevent disease whenever I can, <br />for prevention is preferable to cure.&rdquo; &nbsp;<br />(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Even&nbsp; though&nbsp; the Medicine&rsquo;s main goal&nbsp; is&nbsp; to prevent or cure diseases, medical&nbsp; students <br />are mostly trained for diagnosis and treatment of disease. As a result, during their practice as <br />physicians, they do not consider their important role in disease prevention and health promo-<br />tion. Many physicians agree with Dr. C. Everett Koop who said "I don't think a medical stu-<br />dent&nbsp; is ever&nbsp; told what his mission&nbsp; in&nbsp; life&nbsp; is. Certainly no one&nbsp; told me when I was a medical <br />student what was&nbsp; expected&nbsp; of me&nbsp; as&nbsp; a&nbsp; lifetime&nbsp; goal&nbsp; in&nbsp; assuming&nbsp; the&nbsp; role&nbsp; of&nbsp; a&nbsp; physician." <br />Moreover, many physicians do not consider&nbsp; that many parts of their efforts for disease man-<br />agement are, in fact, secondary or tertiary levels of prevention.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There has been a debate over&nbsp; the relative&nbsp; importance of prevention vs.&nbsp; treatment; obvi-<br />ously they should not be considered as two opposite sides of a health system, which requires <br />both prevention and treatment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/40http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/40/267