Telephone interviews were conducted by the principal investigator, a PhD trained Scientist with many years of experience in qualitative research, between 8 April and 28 September 2015. During the interview, participants were asked about factors that influenced their choice of medical devices and their response to adverse medical device events (findings are reported elsewhere). To address the main purpose of this study and elicit views about PE, participants were asked: ‘What is the role of patients in deciding which type of device to use?’ This was distinguished from telling patients about device risks and benefits during the required informed consent process, and described as having a discussion with patients about device options, characteristics and performance. Interviews were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed. Interview length was an average of 30.6 min (median 30.5, range 22.0–45.0 min).