A multi-step process of thematic analysis was used to identify the core themes that represent the perceptions of nurses and physicians about elder abuse(Crabtree and Miller, 1999; Rice and Ezzy, 1999). All transcriptions were entered in N’Vivo (QSR International, Victoria, Australia), a qualitative software program that allows for coding and systematic searching of interview data. After development of a preliminary codebook, initial coding was conducted by the interviewer (A. S.) to identify general themes in the responses of all persons interviewed. A second-coding step entailed members of the research team representing each profession (MD and RN) interactively reading through interview transcripts. All members of the research team concurred on themes identified during the transcript review.