American Academy of Family Physicians Launches Initiative on Disease and Illness Prevention

SAN DIEGO — Today, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) announced a year-long educational initiative on prevention. The AAFP Annual Clinical Focus (ACF) 2003: Prevention offers family physicians and patients the most current information and techniques to help divert the onset of often fatal diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Additionally, information will be provided on asthma, allergies, immunizations, mental health, obesity, osteoporosis and preventive services.

Components of Annual Clinical Focus 2003: Prevention include video continuing medical education (CME) programs, articles in the AAFP’s peer-reviewed clinical journal American Family Physician, an American Family Physician monograph (a detailed educational booklet), multiple patient education handouts, CD-ROM of ACF 2003 program elements, a Web site discussion group, events at national CME meetings and online CME.

“The Annual Clinical Focus, coupled with other educational offerings, provides cutting-edge information to enhance family physicians’ current prevention and treatment techniques. Members of the Academy must obtain 150 hours of continuing medical education every three years — participation in this program helps them reach that goal,” said Norman B. Kahn Jr., M.D., AAFP vice president of science and education.

The AAFP’s 54th Scientific Assembly is being held at the San Diego Convention Center. Hundreds of courses, lectures and original research findings will be presented to more than 6,000 family physician attendees from across the country — giving them an opportunity to discuss the latest in medical developments. Numerous sessions are offered in conjunction with ACF 2003, including “What’s New from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” “Primary and Secondary Prevention in Minority Populations,” “Preventive Medicine for Adults: What, Why and How?” and “Preventive Medicine for Women Through the Decades.”

Topics relating to ACF 2003 will be featured during 2003 AAFP national educational meetings, including: Sports Medicine (February 4-9); Selected Internal Medicine Topics for Family Physicians (March 3-7); Women’s Health in Primary Care (April 2-5); Colposcopy Update and Review (April 5-6); Skin Problems and Diseases (June 18-22); Family Centered Maternity Care (July 23-27); Infant, Child and Adolescent Medicine (Sept. 2-7); Emergency and Urgent Care (Sept. 18-21); and Geriatric Medicine (Oct. 16-19).

Annual Clinical Focus 2003: Prevention was developed in cooperation with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, American Cancer Society, American College of Preventive Medicine, American Diabetes Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, and the National Human Genome Research Institute. It is made possible through unrestricted educational grants from Schering Laboratories/Key Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia Corporation, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott Laboratories, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Aventis Pasteur, Inc. and AstraZeneca.