Maybe your next study is only a Netflix subscription away
Sometimes we imagine that rural research is only about measuring diagnostic accuracy or testing the next clinical protocol. But some of the most powerful research isn’t about clinical management at all — it’s about examining the stories people already carry in their heads.
One classic example comes from the New England Journal of Medicine. In the 1990s, Diem, Lantos, and Tulsky sat down to watch nearly 100 episodes of ER, Chicago Hope and Rescue 911. Their discovery was startling: on television, CPR was almost always a success. Three-quarters of patients survived, many walking away apparently unharmed. In reality, survival is rare and long-term disability is common. That gap between TV drama and clinical truth fuels unrealistic expectations and makes end-of-life conversations harder. The authors argued that doctors need to draw out these assumptions directly, and then correct them with real data.
The same principle applies in rural emergency care. Preconceptions shape how our work is judged and how our system functions. Think about calling a tertiary hospital registrar with a complex case. Before you’ve even finished the handover, they may already be forming a picture — about your assessment, your resources, even whether your plan is “best practice.” Patients carry their own assumptions too. A tourist with a sudden headache or chest pain may be silently weighing your advice against what they imagine would happen in a city hospital. Those preconceptions — about safety, quality and outcomes — can shape trust just as much as clinical skill.
Some of those ideas come from experience, but many are fed by popular culture. Television and film are littered with familiar rural tropes: the endless struggle to recruit staff, the quirky patient, the bossy nurse, and — almost inevitably — the dysfunctional doctor. Scriptwriters rarely let a clinician simply choose to go rural. Instead, there’s always a backstory: a punishment, a failing, a personal flaw that explains their exile. Redemption comes later, when the humbled doctor finally discovers humanity through rural patients and colleagues.
Not every story fits the mould. In Field of Dreams (1989), Moonlight Graham gave up a baseball career after a single game for a life in rural medicine. As he tells the protagonist: “Son… if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes… now that would have been a tragedy.” It’s a rare moment on screen where rural practice is shown not as failure, but as calling — perhaps because Moonlight Graham was, in fact, based on a real doctor.
These portrayals may entertain, but they also shape expectations. Perhaps your next piece of rural research shouldn’t just measure outcomes, but map the hidden stories, stereotypes and myths that influence how patients, colleagues and future doctors see rural emergency care.
Spot the Stereotype
Popular culture loves to explain why doctors end up in the country — and it’s almost never by choice. Test your knowledge: match the rural doctor (1–8) with the “problem” that supposedly explains their posting (A–H).
The Doctors
1. Martin Ellingham – Doc Martin
2. Joel Fleischman – Northern Exposure
4. Terence Elliot – A Country Practice
6. Paul Lewis – The Grand Seduction
7. Hugh Knight – Doctor Doctor
The “Problems”
A. Drug abuse and reckless behaviour
B. Alcoholism and a tragic misdiagnosis
C. Court-ordered community service
D. Surgeon with a fear of blood
E. Fired for terrible bedside manner
F. Misleading scholarship contract
G. Cocaine possession and a love of cricket
H. Marriage breakdown after partner’s #MeToo scandal
Answers
1–D, 2–F, 3–C, 4–B, 5–E, 6–G, 7–A, 8–H
Plenty more are out there. Keep watching and make your own list.
First published in the RRECN Newsletter (October 2025).
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