Table 1.

Participants’ characteristics

Focus group	Gender M/F	Age mean (range)	Number of specialty contacts (physically, by telephone or email) in the last 12 months (p=participant)
1	2/1	61 (47–68)	P1: internal medicine: 4, cardiology: 1
			P2: urology: 10–15, cardiology: 3–5, orthopaedic surgery: 3–5
			P3: general surgery: 4, urology: 2
2	2/1	53 (44–49)	P1: haematology: 18, pulmonology: 8, cardiology: 4
			P2: endocrinology: 40
			P3: urology: 3, gastroenterology: 6, cardiology: 4
3	2/1	71 (65–75)	P1: gastroenterology: 1, urology: 1
			P2: cardiothoracic surgery: 2
			P3: urology: 4
4	0/3	63 (55–71)	P1: cardiology: 10, oncology: 2
			P2: pulmonology: 4, cardiology: 2, gynaecology: 3, orthopaedic surgery: 4
			P3: internal medicine: 3
5	0/4	28 (24–32)	P1: oncology: 1, radiotherapy: 1, gynaecology: 2
			P2: oncology: 3, radiotherapy: 3
			P3: radiotherapy: 2, endocrinology: 1
			P4: oncology: 2, plastic surgery: 10, surgery: 3, gynaecology: 1