General practice in 2008: a time of metamorphosis

Australia’s GPs are meeting the challenges of change, while maintaining some constancies

A few short years ago, the death of general practice as we knew it was reported.1 However, as suggested by our cover image of the mythical phoenix (Box), with its reference to Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses — “what is called birth is change from what we were, and death the shape of being left behind” — there is another explanation. This perceived “death” may, in fact, have been the preface to a significant cycle of change now manifesting in general practice in many countries around the world, including Australia.