Conducting Qualitative Interviews to Understand Medical Facilities’ Motivations

[Teleflex]

Our client was interested in understanding the motivations behind medical facilities’ decisions to switch from reusable to single-use devices, as well as the implications felt by these facilities after switching.  Specifically, our client chose to focus on facilities that had recently switched from reusable to disposable laryngoscopes. TTi conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews at two medical facilities that had recently switched from reusable laryngoscopes to the client’s single-use laryngoscopes. An open-ended, in-depth interview guide using tenets from cognitive testing was developed, and interviews were transcribed verbatim. TTi completed a thematic analysis to determine the overarching themes emerging from the interviews, and developed a white paper detailing our findings. The client was able to gain an understanding of the motivations behind medical facilities’ switch to single-use laryngoscopes, and our qualitative research revealed an unexpected primary motivator for switching at both hospitals, which was staying in compliance with changing requirements of outside accrediting bodies such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare (JACO) (rather than cost savings).