Physicians' attitudes about artificial feeding in older patients with severe cognitive impairment in Japan: a qualitative study

Table 1 Characteristics of informants

No.*	Age	Sex	Hospital classification ^†	Specialty ^‡	No.	Age	Sex	Hospital classification	Specialty
1	35	M	Acute	Internal medicine	16	32	F	Mixed care	Psychiatry
2	30	M	Acute	Internal medicine	17	50	F	Mixed care	Internal medicine
3	37	M	Acute	Surgery	18	60	M	Long-term	Psychiatry
4	55	M	Acute	Internal medicine	19	45	M	Acute	Neurology
5	70	M	Acute	Neurology	20	48	M	Acute	Neurosurgery
6	47	M	Acute	Neurosurgery	21	44	M	Acute	Geriatrics
7	63	F	PCU	Palliative care	22	26	F	Acute	Internal medicine
8	51	M	Long-term	Internal medicine	23	47	M	Acute	Internal medicine
9	48	M	Acute	Neurology	24	45	M	Acute	Gastrointestinal surgery
10	42	M	Acute	Neurology	25	62	M	Long-term	Psychiatry
11	37	M	Mixed care	Internal medicine	26	35	M	Acute	Gastrointestinal internal medicine
12	52	M	Long-term	Surgery	27	50	M	Home care	Family physician
13	46	M	Long-term	Internal medicine	28	48	F	Home care	Family physician
14	52	M	Long-term	Neurosurgery	29	50	M	Mixed care	Internal medicine
15	34	M	Mixed care	Internal medicine	30	43	M	Long-term	General medicine

* Each informant was given an ID number.
^†In the hospital classification column, mixed care means a hospital that has both acute care and long-term care wards.
^‡Physicians at long-term care hospitals usually work as geriatricians as well.

ISSN: 1471-2318