Methods
Anonymised case studies were identified from the medical notes of patients aged 65 and over with conditions likely to be associated with multimorbidity, medication issues and polypharmacy: namely: fall, urinary tract infection, confusion or lower respiratory tract infection. A total of 39 doctors based on the acute medical admissions unit and 9 pharmacists were recruited to one of three focus groups. Patient case-studies provided the context for discussion from which verbatim transcripts were thematically analysed using an interpretative, qualitative approach. Sub-themes were matched to Murshid and Mohaidin’s proposed model of physician prescribing decisions.