Participants
The potential participants comprised 440 professionals involved in the delivery of Data collection
Data were collected in 2010 using a questionnaire distributed to 440 professionals participating in the delivery of care to older patients at the hospital. The professionals returned the completed questionnaires in a return envelope. A gift voucher of 10 euro was given as a reward for their participation. A total of 192 professionals completed and returned the questionnaire (44% response rate), of which 48 medical specialists (out of 101; 48% response), 113 nurses (out of 306; 37% response) and 26 paramedics (out of 33; 79% response). All personal identifiers were removed or disguised, so the person(s) described are not identifiable and cannot be identified through the details of the story.