This paper presents definitions of primary care and the dimensions of the health care crisis in general and of the primary care crisis in particular. The importance of team practice in primary care is described, as are the necessity of creating the social physician as team leader and some changes which appear to be necessary in medical education in order to begin moving toward a solution of the primary care crisis. Primary care is what most patients need most of the time. Changes in the medical education system—changes as fundamental as those which paved the way for the research establishment-will be required to provide it.
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