Characteristics of participants
| Characteristics | Participants in interviews |
| Age (years), mean±SD | 45.52±6.8 |
| Experience (years), mean±SD | 13.14±7.6 |
| Gender, no. (%) | |
| Male | 13 (61.9) |
| Female | 8 (38.1) |
| Specialty, no. (%) | |
| Specialist* | 12 (57.1) |
| Sub-specialist† | 9 (42.9) |
| Academic medical centres, no. (%)‡ | |
| Alzahra | 7 (33.3) |
| Amin | 3 (14.3) |
| Beheshti | 2 (9.5) |
| Kashani | 4 (19.1) |
| Imam Hussein | 3 (14.3) |
| Noor and Ali Asghar | 2 (9.5) |
*Specialties included obstetrics and gynaecology (n=1), emergency medicine (n=3), community medicine (n=1), internal medicine (n=2), general surgery (n=1), ENT (n=2), neurology (n=1), paediatric (n=1).
†Subspecialties included gastroenterology (n=2), paediatric nephrology (n=1), paediatric infectious (n=1), paediatric surgery (n=1), endocrinology (n=1), perinatology (n=1), neurosurgery (n=1), women health/preventive medicine (n=1).
‡The centre with the longest working hours was considered, physicians working in the two medical centres.
ENT, ear, nose and throat.