Speech
Middle Atlantic Health Congress
Atlantic City, New Jersey
May 15, 1990
C. Everett Koop, M.D.
Greetings, Etc.
It is a pleasure for me to be with you today, I salute your commitment to your continuing professional development.
I am very much impressed by the wide variety of sessions that are scheduled, and I applaud your focus on the improvement of patient care, the need for high quality care, and the ethical implications of the crunch in healthcare resources.
Your theme, "Working Together in the Quest for Quality" -- is a bold undertaking.
It's bold because so many health-care settings in the United States today, it is all we can do to achieve minimal care, much less quality care.  Although we wish to provide at all times the highest quality care, personnel shortages and financial constraints shrink or options and put us to the test.
And, health-care workers can themselves get testy from being stretched too far.
So, you are concerned with cooperation and quality is timely . . . And urgently needed.
Not long ago, an afternoon talk on the future of health care would have been a source of pride and comfort.