MY MENTORS in the American Medical Association's National Speakers Bureau tell me that one must never begin an address with an apology. Rather, one blasts off with a strong statement of position, preferably chosen from some previous century, and resolutely remains in the same oratorical orbit for 40 minutes. However, I am going to start with an excusatory admission, in fact a double-barreled one. First, my honest conviction that I am imposing on your time. What can a practitioner from the far provinces have to say to his betters? Perhaps I am here as an interlude, or for contrast, a dwarf between two giants in the field of continuing education, Dr. Dryer and Dr. Solomon. Secondly, my regrets over the seeming irreverence of my title, shocking on the program amidst so many learned, not to say starchy, captions. The subject assigned to me was "The Physician Views His Need for