Authors: Michael C Fiore
Publish Date: 1992/03/25
Volume: 267, Issue: 12, Pages: 1613-1613
Abstract
In Reply —I appreciate the support of Drs Conwill and Currier for institutionalizing clinical prevention interventions and specifically the assessment of patient smoking status as a new vital sign What is essential in such interventions is that they are brief in nature and provide an opportunity for meaningful clinical responses such as lowering blood pressure or treating nicotine addictionClearly it would be desirable to increase seatbelt use and thereby decrease years of potential life lost this could constitute a defensible addition to the basic vital signs However it is equally important that the case for making a fundamental institutional change such as expanding the vital signs be compelling and unequivocal In creating effective institutional changes it may be necessary to introduce them in a stepwise manner assessing their implementation and impact at each stage of the process In this way we can strive to achieve maximum benefit through these
Keywords: