Interview Guide (Patients)
Topic/Rationale	Question	Follow Up/Probe
For all patients	1. Tell me about your heart attack.	What symptoms were you having before you came in to the hospital? What did you think was wrong when you first began having these symptoms?
	2. Tell me about any procedures you remember having in the hospital.	Did you have a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure? Did you have heart catheterization procedure or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)? What did you know about this procedure before you came in to the hospital?
If participant underwent procedure	3. Tell me about any benefits, or upsides, to this procedure that your doctor may have talked with you about.	Can you talk to me about how well you understood these benefits at the time? What questions do you remember asking about these benefits?
	4. Tell me about any potential downsides, or complications, of this procedure that your doctor may have talked with you about before having it.	Can you tell me about your understanding of these downsides at the time? Can you tell me about any questions you may have asked about these potential complications?
	5. Describe your level of comfort with your procedure before having it.	What other information do you wish you had been given before your procedure, or did you feel pretty well informed? What other kinds of questions did you ask your doctor prior to your procedure? How could your doctor or your care team have made you feel more comfortable with the procedure?
	6. Describe how comfortable you would have been with saying “no” to the procedure that your doctor recommended.	What was it that allowed you to feel that you could say “no” to the procedure? Why, do you think, you felt as if you couldn’t turn down the procedure?
	7. How long were you in the hospital after your procedure?	How did you feel about your length of stay in the hospital? Why did you think that your stay should have been longer/shorter?
	8. How important is it for you to fully understand your procedure?	How were you feeling about the procedure before having it? How well did you understand what was going to happen?
If participant did not undergo procedure	9. Tell me about any heart procedures your doctor may have discussed with you.	Can you tell me about the procedures they discussed with you (if any)? Did you say “no” to having the procedure? Can you tell me your reasons for not wanting to have the procedure?
	10. How has your recovery been after getting discharged from the hospital?	Can you describe any issues you may have had related to your procedure after you left the hospital? How concerned are you that you will have another heart attack?
	11. How important is it for you to fully understand your heart disease?	Tell me more about your heart disease. What would help you to further understand it?
Closure	Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your hospitalization for a heart attack?	————