Physicians were identified in publicly available certification agency directories, and hospital or university websites, and invited to participate by regular or electronic mail. They were purposively recruited by specialty (cardiac or vascular surgery, interventional cardiology and orthopaedic surgery), region (Canadian provinces), setting (academic, community) and years in practice (self-reported early, mid or late career). A reminder was sent to non-respondents at 2 and 4 weeks from initial contact. Sampling aimed to interview 10 of each specialty who varied by other sampling characteristics. Of 561 physicians invited to participate, 534 declined or did not respond and 27 consented; we were able to schedule interviews with 22 (Table 1). Table 1Demographic characteristics of interview participantsPhysician specialtySelf-reported career stageSubtotalEarlyMidLateOrthopaedic surgeons10OCE-MB11OTE-MB14OTE-AB15OTE-NS16OTE-NS17OTE-NS06OTM-ON08OTM-MB12OCM-BC03OTL-ON07OTL-ON09OCL-MB12Cardiac or vascular surgeon, or interventional cardiologists02CTE-ON04CTE-ON01CTM-ON05CTM-ON13CTM-MB19CTM-ON20CTM-AB21CTM-ON22CTM-MB18CTL-ON10Subtotal810422C, cardiac; O, orthopaedic; T, teaching; C, community; E, early career; M, mid-career; L, late career; two letter code for province.