The Three Ps: Unabridged

Abstract

The circumstances and coincidences of life often lead us down strange and circuitous routes as we travel on this journey. How well I remember, as a fledgling first year medical student, having a Schick test placed on my arm as part of a laboratory exercise in an immunology course. The results, a large slough on my forearm, indicated that I was susceptible to diphtheria. Little did I realize then the importance of that name, nor was I aware of his contributions to the definition of serum sickness and anaphylaxis. But even more removed from the realm of possibility was to have imagined that I would one day have the privilege of standing before this distinguished body to honor the memory of Dr. Bela Schick. As I began searching for information about Dr. Schick, my secretary pulled from the shelf in our own office library a volume, published by Schering, that contains the first five Bela Schick lectures. Dr. Murray Peshkin delivered the first Bela Schick lecture to this body in 1968, followed by Howard Rapaport, John McGovern, Jerome Glaser, and Susan Dees. Most of them knew Bela Schick and had worked under him or had been inspired by him. Dr. John McGovern who spoke in 1970 began with these words of Dr. Schick: “First, the patient, second, the patient, third, the patient, fourth the patient, fifth the patient, and then maybe comes science. We first do everything for the patient; science can wait, research can wait.”1 Dr. McGovern noted that these are strange words for a great scientist. They become much less strange when we recognize the fact that Dr. Schick was also a great humanitarian with a particular genius to combine these two cultures in medicine in perfect harmony. The title of this presentation is “The three Ps: Unabridged.” These Ps could represent pollens, pets, and pests or providers, payors, and politicians, but instead they represent the three most important elements in our lives and work: PATIENTS, PHYSICIANS, AND PROFESSION. The word unabridged, which means to be whole, complete, uncut, leaving nothing out, suggests to us the way in which we should approach the three Ps. I hope to develop this theme as it pertains to us and our acknowledgment of these most important areas.