In my experience in the health industry, if HCP (health care practitioners) can see the clear benefits of a study, then they are usually happy to participate. I would suggest thinking carefully about three main positive contributions your study will make within the health care system. Also show that you've considered how you will address any challenges and thought through any ethical dilemmas. If these are clear and solid, then people in the health industry are likely to participate easily. That's my experience. Good luck.

In my experience in the area of researching in the health care system, it is important that the health care professionals are recognized as skilled persons with very important knowledge. They should experience that their knowledge is important for you as well for the patients and sharing this knowledge and understanding will contibute to something greater and improving care- expanding the bank of knowledge. You also need to be aware of that healtth care professionals do not have so much time to spare- so be flexible about when to conduct your interviews- let them decide place and time. Good luck.

Totally agreeing with Gavin: " to befriend one senior insider and use them to 'snowball' other respondents" is the best strategy.

Thanks for these comments. I had included snowball sampling in the design - it's getting the first couple of interviews that has had me stymied. From your comments it's clear that my "elevator pitch" and message need to be more targeted and include language that will express how this study will benefit their practice.

I'm open to all other suggestions!

Luck is also welcome!!

Jean

I think you have to clearly and realistically explain to them what the may contribute to the understanding of issueas related to the treatment of MDS. Nothing more inspires professionals than knowing what they contribute to the bettermnet of human life.

Hi Gayle,

These are excellent comments all of which you'll mostly likely take on board. You might also consider Skype or similar technology which may give them more flexibility regarding when and where they agree to talk with you. Given that health professionals are busy and have limited time for conventional qualitative interviews, you could give interviewees the option of you "following" or "shadowing" them for a period of time (half a shift, a day maybe or longer if you have the time) and see if that works in terms of getting the conversation going with them. Of course this will be time consuming and will require added paperwork regarding ethics but it might be worth piloting. I once co-moderated a very cramped focus group of 10 theatre nurses which was held in an actual theatre itself. It was serendipity as two theatres were not in use and the nurses had time to spare. We also provided lots of morning tea afterwards. Best of luck with your research.

Quick thought: If recording the participants via phone is a possibility, offer that choice. As others have stated these professionals have very limited time, so making time work for both of you is the way to go. Incidentally, I don't think that many lf these professionals are all that hung up on the lack of incentive, more likely the time impediment would be my worry. Good luck!

Hi Gayle

I'm involved in PhD dissertation as you. I agree with Gavin Daker-White to use "snowball" sampling with senior or directors of both practitioners & nurses(head nurses or supervisors) team in first time and then refer to other junior member with recommendation of senior. Other experience of me is, time spending in clinic as active participant and after ice breaking go to interview setting as a coworker or friend. In this case nurses or doctors not rigid with you. I'm happy if you give me your experiences in interviews & coding also.

Good luck!

You should think about doing your interviews online (skype, or email): as other have said, your population is very busy and follow an uncommon schedule. Doing the interview online may help with that. As far as motivating them without economical incentives may be hard; I'd play it on their good heart and on the importance of their opinion for your research.

Thanks for your advice everyone. I am prepared to record phone interviews or SKYPE. It's getting them to open the email or take the call that is the biggest challenge. It may be that I don't have a good enough "hook" in my subject line to grab their attention. It's a balance between finding compelling language and not tripping the SPAM filter!

have you thought about contacting an association that deals with and support people with Myelodysplastic Syndromes? they may have physicians open to dialogue and may act as "gatekeepers" to a broader community/network of other physicians and/or nurse... "personal" connections usually work best for this kind of thing (just brainstorming here, hope it helps!)

get to know them by joining one of their professional associations as an observer/participant. it's what i've always done. you will get interesting in-depth insights.

Hi Gayle, I'm also involved in a PHD dissertation with the same professionals and a mixed method. I've to admit I didn’t meet so many problems to convince them. I suggest making contact with them directly (phone) so that you might explain what is the added value of your study and why it’s important to include them in your sample. For example. I’m working on the implementation of Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE), so I told them they’re “expert” in this field (as they actually implement TPE, more or less). It’s also better to let them choose when and where you can meet (Something they’re available in a month or two, or at 08pm). My interviews were pretty long (average 68minutes) but except one ( -out of 30- who had another appointment 50minutes later), they find the time to do it. If your questions are interesting for them, for example if they learn something about their practices, it should not be a problem. Good Luck!

I experienced the same problem with nurses not opening their e-mails, and I was offering a financial incentive to being interviewed and stated that in the tag line! I even tried reaching out to the unit manager by e-mail to ask for her help in recruiting nurses, but never received any help that way either. The way I finally got enough nurses to interview was to go in on a weekend and use snowball sampling. One nurse had responded to my e-mail and asked me to come in on a Saturday. With her help, in that one weekend I was able to interview seven nurses. I did spend the whole weekend at the hospital waiting for nurses, but it was worth it to get the interviews. It's harder to turn down a face to face request, especially when your peer is telling you that the interview is a good thing to do. A colleague of mine also said that phone interviews worked really well for her with nurses. If I were to do it again, I would build phone interviews into my IRB. For some reason, I had no problem with other healthcare providers (dietitians, doctors, lactation consultants, and nurse practitioners). I was able to schedule times to interview them without a problem.

I find it effective to inform nurses and doctors about the importance that their interview has on the research, the possibility to remain anonymous and always illustrate to them the aims and reasons of research in every detail and leave to the respondent the opportunity to choose when to be intervisted.I never use mail or electronic mail interviews because , most of the times, few people answer .

Beverly Rossman - thanks for your insights. If I dont' get calls/emails returned this week I'll take the same approach as the drug reps and just go knocking on doors.

Having just filmed 443 interviews with nurses and allied health professionals for a new Bachelor of Nursing Degree I agree with Gavin Daker-White (no relation :-) that sending a copy of your interview schedule - including all questions - in advance is very important, and in particular allowing the interviewees time to review and prepare their responses before filming plus ensuring that the interviewees know they also have the opportunity to view their interviews before publishing (using the Unlisted YouTube service I found was a quick way to deliver the video in segments for feedback).

I also agree with Rita Varini that explaining the context in which their interview will used is important as well as knowing who they are addressing (in our case students in a new Bachelor of Nursing Degree) so that they can frame their answers to a particular audience. The main incentive I found for gaining participation was to explain to the interviewee: Imagine if when you were a nursing student you had the chance to talk to an experienced nurse about, for example, how they applied evidence based practice to their work on a hospital ward.

I have found that all of the interviewees I have had were delighted to think that their experience could help other students, knowing how busy experienced staff are and lacking in time to spend with students on the job.

None of our interviewees, who all work full time in very busy roles, were paid for their time or sought any special recognition and all were located by word of mouth and contacts via personal professional networks.

Good luck with your project.

Irena White;

Thanks for sharing your experience and suggestions. Did you have any issues with privacy using youtube share the videos?

Jean

Hi Gayle - I only used the YouTube videos of the interviews to seek interviewee feedback not to publish the final product as we have our own Media Manager system for video sharing at the university where I work. As I used the 'Unlisted' option when creating the YouTubes (I use my own YouTube Channel to do this) and only those with the YouTube URL (which I emailed to them) could view each video I created so there was no issue with privacy. There is also a 'Private' setting in YouTube but I have found that this does not always open for the person who is receiving the Private YouTube URL. Many universities have their own YouTube Channel (which requires the university to be a paid subscriber) and this would be my preferred way of sharing and publishing videos as I believe private subscription Cloud services are totally reliable and secure. Hope this helps.

Irena;

Thanks for the great info about youtube. The IRBs I've worked with have been very skeptical of social media - even survey monkey. I have noticed a lot of chatter about embedding youtube material in online curriculum. Perhaps we are all becoming more comfortable with electronic media.

Thanks for your reply Gayle - I am particularly interested in getting students to source, create and curate videos on YouTube.

Hi Gayle

I like to add my 1 cent of value to the above suggestions. I have two MBA students working on topics for their graduation thesis related to RNs in hospitals namely retention and crisis management. The community of the survey are RNs, MDs, health professionals. My students' success is high because they are themselves RNs and the health community feels nearest to them in comparison to non-health related researchers.

Hussin;

Thank you for your comment. In my experience, it is much easier to access healthcare providers in the hospital setting. For my population, the diagnosis, care plan and treatment is primarily outpatient so I'm trying to get through to them in their office environment. I will persevere and succeed. Many of the ideas offered here will help I'm sure.