Supplementary quotations
| Theme | Quotation |
|---|---|
| Professional culture of medicine | “I ended up going into my own hospital and my office partner was the one that was on call. We have a community baby practice and I knew there was a full antenatal clinic lined up across the street, and I wasn’t going to be there [seeing patients, because I was in labour], and she wasn’t going to be there because she was seeing me, so there was a lot of weird guilt into that. I’m like, ‘No, if I can just go over there, get some pain meds, I can walk across the street and see all the patients.’ But once [my colleague] got there, she’s like, ‘No, you’re crazy! You’re not doing that.’” (Interview 2) “I think all of my [physician] friends had complications from birth. One thing or another. It’s always a premature baby, a hemorrhage. Everybody has something. I don’t know, it’s the stress of the job.” (Interview 4) |
| Impact of increased medical knowledge | “I think probably because I ask … a lot of questions that I probably would not have asked if I did not have the background that I have.” (Interview 5) “I would say ‘definitely more nervous’ [I was] because more about being aware of different complications that could go on.” (Interview 8) “I think I would have been more happily ignorant about those types of complications [that I had] if I wasn’t a physician or maybe not even that, a neonatologist specifically … . I think that specifically being a neonatologist, I have a lot of worst-case scenario fears.” (Interview 11) “I, unfortunately, felt several times that I received substandard care, which no one should get, clinician or not, just lack of good care sometimes.” (Interview 10) |
| Difficulty stepping out of physician role | “Even in the throes of when I was on Mag [magnesium sulfate] in the delivery room, I have never felt worse in my whole life, like, emotionally, physically, mentally, like, literally at the lowest point ever and I was still having that [clinician] hat on. And whenever anyone came in, like a doctor, or nurses, whoever, I would pull myself together and try to talk at a professional level … . Yeah, I don’t know how you would let that other side go.” (Interview 2) “So, here I’m trying to navigate this complicated patient/physician relationship knowing that I’m the patient, and I’m trying to be a good patient knowing that physician patients aren’t always desirable for other physicians.” (Interview 10) “I’m thankful that no one was around [when I went into the hospital in active labour] because I know I would have seen people I know. I could have seen my friends and my colleagues! Oh, that would have been awful! I don’t want anyone seeing me like that. It’s not a very controlled situation. You think you can control how you respond to the contractions, but it’s very … it’s a lot.” (Interview 1) |
| Privileged access to care | “I think it [being a physician] definitely does [impact on the care I receive], especially being in the small town. Everybody at the hospital knows me, all the doctors … . My husband is a family doctor, as well, and he works in our hospital, doing hospitalist, and he has a practice, (inaudible), so people know us, especially for that reason. I think we probably get some extra attention, or extra perks, sometimes. I know they let him come and go during my labour, even though there were COVID restrictions, which wouldn’t have otherwise been the case … . It’s definitely increased access to health services.” (Interview 3) “I did get an early anatomy ultrasound because of my concerns. I don’t believe I would have gotten that if I wasn’t a physician or a neonatologist. I also was offered … an early fetal echo, which is a pretty niche imaging modality. I think if I didn’t have the background that I had, or the specific fears, or was able to present those fears with those confidence, I wouldn’t have been offered those tests, and I would have just had to wait ‘til 18 weeks like everybody else.” (Interview 11) “Because I knew how to advocate for what I needed. I was like, ‘Oh, I was getting reflux. I’ve tried (inaudible), so I need a prescription for PPI.’ So, I went to my doctor and said, ‘I think I need a PPI.’ And I knew that that was the next step, and I knew that I understood what was safe or not in pregnancy.” (Interview 1) |
Note: PPI = proton pump inhibitor.