In Reply.—I am impressed by the many thoughtful responses to my commentary on primary care, which I wrote just a year ago on my way home from the Ambulatory Pediatric Association/Society for Pediatric Research/American Pediatric Society meetings. This has been a good year for looking at our specialty of pediatrics most critically and openly.
In between the many emotions that exude in Dr Comerci's letter are some very insightful thoughts. As I interpret them and his points of disagreement, I suggest we are hung up on semantics, ie, the words primary, secondary, and tertiary. They mean to each individual what we want them to mean.
Dropping these terms for a moment may help clarify the points in my commentary. Let me color code them, hoping to avoid existing "jargon fixes."
Yellow Tasks.—Yellow tasks are those that are routine and can be learned and delivered in a brief period