Table 3 Attitudes towards BIS: sub-themes and categories

Positive perceptions

• Potential benefits

• Would be acceptable to use for themselves or their family member

• Appearance of sensor strip/monitoring screen acceptable

• Any helpful intervention is acceptable

• Potential for use alongside other monitoring methods

Conditional acceptance

• As long as patient and/or family involved in decision to use BIS

• Depending on patients’ individual characteristics/symptom severity

• As long as it is clinically useful

• As long as it is used only in addition to usual care

Reservations

• Medicalisation of care and/or death

• Appearance of sensor strip/monitoring screen

• Unreliable readings

• Movement restriction

• Skin irritation

• Misinterpretation of readings

• Potentially invasive

• Providing information which could be distressing for family members

• Used for continuous sedation until death

• Inappropriate for agitated patients