Table 1 Interview Guide

1. Could you start by telling me about your role and your involvement in improving flow?

• Probe: How long have you been in this role? (Ask about past roles in the organization if applicable.)

2. Please describe [XYZ project, as applicable] and your role in it.

• How did you choose this particular initiative? (What problem were you trying to solve? Where did you get the idea? Who was involved in the decision?)

• Can you walk me through the process of implementing the project?

• What worked well? What didn’t work well?

• Did you encounter major barriers to implementing the project? If so, what were they? What caused them? How did you address them?

• What were the project’s outcomes? Why do you think this occurred?

• Have you tried to spread the project beyond [area]? How has that gone?

3. Now looking at the regional level: overall, how do you feel efforts to improve patient flow are going?

• Probes: What has worked well? What hasn’t? Why? (Ask for examples.)

• What do you think are the most important things the Region should do to improve flow? (What would that look like? What would it take?)

• How important do you think it is for all the hospitals to have similar processes or similar initiatives for improving flow?

• What do you think should be the role of (programs, sites) in improving flow? Why?

4. Is there anything else we should know?

5. Is there anyone else we should talk to?