A view from Cheyenne Mountain: Generation III's perspective of Keystone III

In October 2000 the family of family medicine convened the Keystone III conference at Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Keystone III participants included members of Generation I (entered practice before 1970), Generation II (entered 1970-1990), and Generation III (entered after 1990). They represented a wide range of family physicians, from medical students to founders of the discipline, and from small-town solo practice to academic medicine. During the conference, the three generations worked together and separately thinking about the past, present, and future of family medicine, our roles in it, and how the understanding of a family physician and our discipline had and would continue to evolve. After the conference, the 10 Generation III members wrote the article published here, reflecting on our experiences as new physicians and physicians in training, and the similarities and differences between our experiences and those of physicians in Generations I and II. Key similarities included commitment to whole-person care, to a wide scope of practice, to community health, and to ongoing engagement with our discipline. Key differences included our understanding of availability, the need for work-life balance, the role of technology in the physician-patient relationship, and the perceptions of the relationship between medicine and a range of outside forces such as insurance and government. This article, presented with only minor edits, thus reflects accurately our perceptions in late 2000. The accompanying editorial reflects our current perspective.