Int J Emerg Med (2010) 3:271–278 tan/provincial hospitals by the Postgraduate Medical Coun- cils of each State. The total number of target hospitals was 37. Recruitment and data collection Site coordinators at each participating site distributed an email invitation to eligible participants. Those agreeing to the research were emailed the interview schedule to consider their responses prior to interview, as well as a participant information statement. All participants provided informed consent. Interview responses were recorded to permit verbatim transcription; voice recordings were stored electronically. At the conclusion of the interview, data were entered into a predefined electronic interview/survey form. Sample size Data analysis Since the purpose of the study was to explore qualitative themes rather than compare responses for different groups using inferential statistics no sample size calculations were performed. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 15.0. The response distribution for quantitative items was summarised using frequencies, percentages ±95% confidence interval (CI) and median as appropriate. Since some interviewees were unable to answer all questions, the total number of graded responses analysed varied for each item. These data are presented as percentage calculations adjusted for missing data. Qualitative data were subject to content analyses by a single researcher. Themes were identified using the method of Ritchie and Spencer [23]. Results Participation Respondents were drawn from 36 sites. After adjusting for the staffing structure at each site, participation was invited from 233 potential interviewees, 95 (40.1%) of whom granted interviews including 100% (36/36) of ED Direc- tors, 96.2% (25/26) of eligible DEMTs, 24% (19/81) of advanced trainee/registrars and 17% (15/90) of interns. Based on this level of participation, sampling error for Directors/DEMTs was 1.6%. Participant demographics The mean number of attendances to each ED during 2008 was 49,985 [95% CI: 37,231–62,738, median = 50,726, 273 interquartile range (IQR) = 37,625–57,000]. Participation was fairly evenly distributed according to State/Territory (Table 1), with a slight preponderance of male respondents (58%). The majority of participants were from city EDs (Table 1). As there are fewer hospitals in the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Northern Territory, only hospitals with applicable EDs were included, all of which were in city settings. Thirty-six per cent (13/36) of ED Directors indicated having NPs present in the ED with the median number of NPs being 2 (IQR: 1–3). Although responses varied, the majority of ED Directors and DEMTs disagreed with statements that NPs could replace interns or postgraduate years 2, 3 or later in the ED (Table 2). When asked whether they had any comments on the role of NPs in the ED, 71 of 95 (74.7%) respondents (Directors, DEMT, registrars and interns) offered an answer. Thematic analyses revealed eight themes. The views of respondents were polarised with the most common comments provided indicating that NPs benefit or add value to the ED but that NPs have a limited role in the ED. Theme 1: role definition The majority of participants offered responses related to the extent to which the NPs role is delineated or defined. While some felt that the role was well-defined others felt that it was poorly defined. Table 1 Demographics of participants staff type, hospital type and State/Territory Number Percentage Staff category ED Director/DEMT Advanced trainee/registrar Prevocational doctor/intern Hospital type City Metropolitan Provincial State or Territory Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Queensland South Australia Northern Territory Victoria Western Australia Tasmania Total 61 19 15 52 25 18 7 13 18 15 6 13 14 9 95 64.2 20.0 15.8 54.7 26.3 18.9 7.4 13.7 18.9 15.8 6.3 13.7 14.7 9.5 100.0