Talk:Screening (medicine)

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[edit] Haha!

I just came here to write this article and here it is! Excellent! InvictaHOG 02:48, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Definitely needs your input, though! Rewster 05:49, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

This is obviously an important topic which needs good definition, since it is likely to link to many other medical articles, and it is often controversial. The definition of screening provided by the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) is: "Screening is a public health service in which members of a defined population, who do not necessarily perceive they are at risk of, or are already affected by a disease or its complications, are asked a question or offered a test, to identify those individuals who are more likely to be helped than harmed by further tests or treatment to reduce the risk of a disease or its complications." (http://rms.nelh.nhs.uk/screening/default.asp?page=WHAT)

No discussion of screening is complete without mention of Wilson's criteria (Wilson and G Jungner in Principles and Practice of Screening for Disease, WHO 1968):

Knowledge of disease: The condition should be important. There must be a recognisable latent or early symptomatic stage. Natural course of condition, including development from latent to declared disease, should be adequately understood.

Knowledge of test: Suitable test or examination. Test acceptable to population . Case finding should be continuous (not just a "once and for all" project).

Treatment for disease: Accepted treatment for patients with recognised disease. Facilities for diagnosis and treatment available. Agreed policy concerning whom to treat as patients.

Cost considerations: Costs of case finding (including diagnosis and treatment of patients diagnosed) economically balanced in relation to possible expenditures on medical care as whole.

There is an excellent summary at http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40000745/ if anyone is interested. The wilsons criteria are lifted directly from there as I do not have the original reference.Jellytussle 04:11, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

I just hadn't heard the name Wilson attached to the criteria, but they're obviously the well-known set of rules we all know and love. Certainly has room for major expansion and discussion and it is nice to know the original pair who set them forth. InvictaHOG 11:35, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Wilson & Jungner's 1968 report to the World Health Organization provides the framework for most of if not all screening practices. I can't find a defined set of rules endorsed by the WHO though.

Um. The principles on http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/prostate/index.html don't exactly match the ones listed