Hybridization of the Primary Care Disciplines-Reply

In Reply.—  I applaud the letter by Dr Ferrari as an illustration of the kind of interspecialty collaboration that can broaden the clinical training, experience, and competence of future primary care physicians. Both this letter and that by Dr Rivera raise the question of what breadth of practice is reasonable and educationally attainable for the residency-trained primary care physician.Although space constraints preclude response to all of the issues raised, several points must be made. First, the educational and practice goals for the primary care physician are not to become a "jack of all trades" or to "be all things to all people." Rather, the goal is to prepare the primary care physician to skillfully provide a broad spectrum of personal, continuing care for patients and their families regardless of age, sex, or presenting complaint. This assumes that the primary care physician's training will encompass an appropriate body of knowledge,