After reading some of the negative comments recently in response to rural and remote medicine being recognised as a subspecialty, my initial reaction was defensive.

My first thought was to call out comments that implied no doctor wants to be ‘dumped’ in the bush or that rural doctors had drawn the short straw or were lured through incentives.

Then I had a change of mind.

And so, instead of dedicating an entire article to an angry knee-jerk response, I thought a little insight would be more productive.