The quaternary prevention, concept coined by the Belgian general practitioner Marc Jamoulle,[1][2][3] Quaternary prevention is the set of health activities to mitigate or avoid the consequences of unnecessary or excessive intervention of the health system.
[4] Marc Jamoulle divided medical situations into four quadrants based on if the patient was experiencing illness (i.e. if the patient experienced subjective poor health) and if the doctor had identified disease (constructed based on diagnostic criteria), with a different type of prevention happening in each: Jamoulle noted that when the patient was experiencing illness but no specific disease had been identified that patient was particularly vulnerable to their condition being made worse by invasive or harmful diagnostic medical intervention.
This original explanation is more limited than the more general term listed in the Wonca International Dictionary for General/Family Practice, "action taken to identify patient at risk of overmedicalisation, to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions, which are ethically acceptable".
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