Table 3

Themes from interviews with physician participants after the project

FOCUS OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS	KEY IDEAS SHARED BY PARTICIPANTS	KEY QUOTE SUPPORTING THEME
Most valued component	Support of team On-call access to physician specialist interdisciplinary team	“[H]aving access to the palliative physician … because I never worked with a palliative care person before … that was a new experience for me … having that access was really expert, was really valuable”
Effects on role or practice	Confidence in decision making Sustained involvement	“[M]y load is less. And that is very good, but I still feel I am involved in the sense that I don’t feel like I am abandoning my patient and I am still involved in terms of what’s going on, and in feeling part of it, and certainly looking after palliative patients is an important part of family medicine and very rewarding one …. it actually makes it go easier”
Coordination of care	Ease of access Comprehensiveness of support Quality of communication	“[I]t was easier to get more support into the home. I would say it … happened faster and was more comprehensive … in terms of getting more individuals involved with varying levels of expertise … and during duration of [the patients’] journey through palliative care … they were getting more hours of support. The dialogue with various team members was increased and … of a higher quality”
Effects on quality of care	Anticipation of needs Averted crises Enabled home death Reduced fears of suffering	“I think it was fabulous … because, you know, when all the people have so much anxiety, can I handle this? What is the next crisis going to be? And I really get a sense from most of my families that everything that would come would be dealt with right ... the patients knew they were not going to be suffering; they knew they weren’t going to be in pain. Anything that happened, there was a solution for it”