Table 4 COREQ Checklist

 1. Interviewer/facilitator

RTC and a Research Coordinator conducted the interviews.

 2. Credentials

RTC, TPC and ALN all are MDs. ARS has an MPH, and the Research Coordinator has a MS.

 3. Occupation

All members of the research team worked at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

 4. Gender

Both interviewers are female.

 5. Experience and training

Neither interviewers had prior experience in conducting interviews, but educated themselves extensively prior to conducting the interviews. TPC has had prior experience in conducting interviews and focus groups and was able to lend expertise and guide the interviewers.

 6. Relationship established

RTC was a fellow physician/trainee, and had an established relationship with the participants. Participants were familiar with the Research Coordinator, but not all had worked directly with her.

 7. Participant knowledge of the interviewer

The interviewers provided a brief overview of the study prior to beginning the interview.

 8. Interviewer characteristics

RTC was a fellow and had not independently terminated a resuscitation. Thus, RTC did not have opinions as to which factors are most important when deciding when to terminate a resuscitation. The Research Coordinator was a non-clinician and did not have any opinions on the subject.

 9. Methodological orientation and theory

Content analysis was the analytical approached used.

 10. Sampling

Purposeful sampling was used to generate an information-rich group with content expertise in the subject of interest.

 11. Method of approach

Physicians were invited to participate via email.

 12. Sample size

17 attending physicians at the study site participated.

 13. Non-participation

No subjects approached refused to participate or dropped out.

 14. Setting of data collection

Data was collected at the study site, in private offices.

 15. Presence of non-participants

There were no other persons present during the interviews aside from the participant and interviewers.

 16. Description of sample

Demographic data is provided in Table 1.

 17. Interview guide

An interview guide was created drawing from concepts from the literature and by using a modified Delphi method.

 18. Repeat interviews

Repeat interviews were not a part of the protocol of this study.

 19. Audio/visual recording

Audio recordings were used to collect the data.

 20. Field notes

Field notes were made during the interview.

 21. Duration

The interviews lasted approximately 35 minutes on average.

 22. Data saturation

Data saturation was achieved.

 23. Transcripts returned

Transcripts were returned to participants for comment and/or correction.

 24. Number of data coders

Two data coders (RTC and ARS) coded the data.

 25. Description of the coding tree

A description of the coding tree is provided in the Methods and Results sections. The codebook can be found in the Appendix.

 26. Derivation of themes

Themes were derived from the data.

 27. Software

Nvivo version 11 Pro was used to manage the data.

 28. Participant checking

Participants were provided the opportunity to provide feedback on the findings.

 29. Quotations presented

See Results section.

 30. Data and findings consistent

There was consistency between the data presented and the findings.

 31. Clarity of major themes

Major themes were clearly presented, as illustrated by the 5 broad categories of factors outlined in the Results section.

 32. Clarity of minor themes

Extensive discussion of specific cases and minor themes took place in the Results section.