Hospital Romance May Largely Be Fiction

All of the novels contained heterosexual plots with both protagonists involved in medical work. Most were set in primary care or emergency medicine settings (seven each), including emergency medicine departments (five) and airborne medical teams (two). The rest were set in general hospitals (three) and maternity settings (three).

All central male protagonists were doctors who worked in emergency settings (six), primary care (six), surgery (five), obstetrics and neonatology (two) or pediatrics (one).

Eleven of 20 central female protagonists were doctors who worked in primary care, obstetrics/neonatology, training or residency programs, surgery, anesthesiology or emergency medicine. The other female protagonists were eight nurses and one paramedic.

The most common match was male doctor with female doctor (11), followed by male doctor with female nurse (eight).

"All the doctors are brilliant, and the nurses are tough but caring, and all of the patients are seriously ill, but they all get better, especially the sick babies who manage miraculously," Kelly said.

The doctors also tended toward tall, muscular physiques and chiseled (often Mediterranean) features. Many also had personal tragedies in their past.

And while Kelly denies a Mediterranean heritage or chiseled features, he does fit one stereotype of these books: He is a (male) doctor who married a (female) doctor. Kelly met his wife of three years while in medical school and admits, somewhat chagrined, that his "no conflict-of-interest" statement toThe Lancetwas perhaps not quite accurate.

More information

There's more on becoming a physician at the American Medical Association.

SOURCES: Brendan Kelly, M.D., senior lecturer, psychiatry, University College Dublin and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., professor, internal medicine, University of Michigan School of Medicine and professor, health management and policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor; Oct. 27, 2007,The Lancet