High-yield prevention, screening, immunization, risk reduction, counselling, and public health topics. This page is designed for BoardQBank practice and is not affiliated with the Medical Council of Canada.
Health Promotion & Illness Prevention questions usually test the safest and most appropriate preventive step: screening eligibility, vaccine timing, risk-factor counselling, harm reduction, public health reporting, occupational/environmental exposures, and prevention in pregnancy, children, adults, and older adults.
Breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate counselling, abnormal screening results, and age/risk-based decisions.
Childhood vaccines, adult boosters, pregnancy vaccines, vaccine contraindications, catch-up schedules, and outbreak prevention.
Hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes prevention, ASCVD risk, smoking cessation, diet, exercise, and statin prevention decisions.
Brief intervention, motivational interviewing, smoking cessation pharmacotherapy, alcohol screening, opioid harm reduction, and overdose prevention.
STI screening, HIV prevention, PrEP/PEP concepts, contraception counselling, partner notification, and pregnancy prevention counselling.
Preconception counselling, folic acid, prenatal screening, pregnancy immunization, Rh prevention, gestational diabetes screening, and breastfeeding.
Growth, nutrition, developmental surveillance, adolescent counselling, injury prevention, school health, and vaccine catch-up.
Falls prevention, osteoporosis screening, frailty, polypharmacy reduction, vision/hearing, dementia risk, and home safety.
Diet counselling, physical activity prescriptions, obesity prevention, metabolic risk, eating patterns, and behaviour change.
Depression/anxiety screening concepts, suicide risk prevention, family violence, intimate partner violence, and safety planning.
Workplace hazards, lead, asbestos, silica, noise exposure, air pollution, waterborne disease, foodborne illness, and prevention programs.
Reportable diseases, outbreak control, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine, epidemiology, population screening, and community prevention.
Incidence, prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, relative risk, odds ratio, NNT, study design, bias, confounding, and outbreak interpretation.
| Trap Area | Typical Question Clue | Correct Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Cancer screening | Patient asks for screening but is too young, too old, or low risk | Use age/risk-based screening; avoid unnecessary tests. |
| Immunization | Pregnancy, immunocompromised state, or uncertain vaccine history | Check contraindications, live vaccine rules, and catch-up principles. |
| Smoking cessation | Patient is willing to quit | Offer counselling plus pharmacotherapy when appropriate. |
| STI prevention | Positive STI test or high-risk exposure | Treat, notify partners, test for co-infections, and consider public health requirements. |
| Falls prevention | Older adult with recurrent falls or sedating medications | Medication review, gait/balance assessment, vision check, home safety, and strength training. |
| Occupational health | Symptoms linked to workplace exposure | Identify exposure, remove/reduce hazard, report when required, and protect coworkers. |
| Public health | Communicable disease or outbreak scenario | Think reporting, isolation, prophylaxis, contact tracing, and population-level control. |
| Epidemiology | Question gives a 2×2 table, screening test result, or study design description | Identify the denominator carefully: incidence is new cases; prevalence is existing cases; sensitivity uses diseased patients; specificity uses non-diseased patients. |