Focus On Health Or Illness? Promotion and Prophylaxis Reports with Diagnostics and Measurement

by, Prof. Dr. Eduard Kakarriqi

Abstract

The two “kingdoms” of medicine are community medicine (or public health or preventive medicine) and clinical medicine. While in clinical medicine the actor is the clinician and his client is an individual-patient, in the community medicine, he is an epidemiologist and his client is the community, that is – the population, understood not as a numerator of only individuals-patients, but as the plural of all individuals community or population components. Clinical and community medicine differ essentially between them. While clinical medicine decides the diagnosis through anamnesis and physical examination of the individual, community medicine determines the diagnosis through estimation of population patterns. On the other hand, while clinical medicine treats (cures) the individual, community medicine uses programs for the treatment of specific population groups. These differences dictate the undertaking of efforts to achieve the equiliber (balance) between the community and the individual.