Table 2.

Motivation to participate; key themes and sub-themes (cont.).

Theme/sub-theme	Description	Illustrative quote(s)
Participatory gains	GPs derive specific gains from participation including maintaining a connection with an interesting and important area of practice.	GP9: Whenever there’s an emergency it tends to be me that gets sent out and the others will hold the fort…. Okay, so I mean it’s an area I’m interested in, I enjoy it, especially say working with, I enjoy the interactions we’ll say with the ambulance crew .
Maintaining emergency interest and preparedness	Many GPs had prior experience of and interest in emergency care which they were keen to maintain.	GP13: I think it’s a skill set that if you have it you should use it effectively. And you should obviously continue to use it, otherwise you’ll lose it. It’s interesting, you’re up skilling. You’re hopefully keeping your skills up, hopefully relearning.
Making a difference	GPs perceived this type of clinical activity to be satisfying and of value.	GP3: And then you know obviously as I say a few of the calls have been my own patients so it’s, you know, it’s good to be there. I mean you’re going to be involved at some stage. You might as well be there and kind of giving the person the best chance possible.… In terms of, we’ll say, you know, the ones that have been my patients, I think it has been beneficial to how, you know, dealing with them from there on. It has been of benefit to how that interaction has gone from there and, you know, working with them, you know, with their own issues and problems after that.
The ability to balance competing demands	Competing demands including time, financial and patient expectation must be negotiated to facilitate participation. The flexibility of the scheme, the observation that the notifications are occasional and the support of colleagues and family facilitate participation.	GP8: Yeah, I mean it’s … that’s general practice, it’s just a queue of people and you have to take a gap or take a rest between each one. Clear the head and go onto the next case…. And those people don’t know about the cardiac arrest or … they may not even care, so, you know … that’s people. GP9: My wife is very supportive so I don’t think so. If it doesn’t suit, if I’m looking after my children and there’s no one else around well that’s fine, I just can’t go, you know. GP3: From the practical side of things in terms of you coming back and not having 12 people waiting for you that, you know, you maybe have a handful but that they’ve tried to fight the fire for you in the meantime. Very practical stuff like that. Up to the point of, you know, making sure you’ve had a sandwich for your lunch or a cup of tea, you know. And that stuff is, yeah, hugely important, you know.