Codes and illustrative quotes regarding healthcare and environmental attitudes (created by the authors)
| Category | Code | Quote |
| Healthcare attitudes | Immediate patient care as main priority | So, the priority is patient care. And after that comes patient care, then patient care. Stop, full stop, finish. (A1, administrative staff, male, 61) |
| Legitimised to prioritise patient care, if perceived to be compromised by mitigation measures | Patient welfare simply has priority over climate change mitigation. That’s just how it is. This is how it should be. No one is supposed to leave the gloves on from patient to patient for environmental reasons, or like yeah, spray less disinfectant. (A13, administrative staff, female, 44) | |
| Places of healing with special duty to reduce GHG emissions | As a doctor, you are not exempt from thinking that everything is centered on the patient and that this justifies everything.(…)But actually the opposite is the case, if you are responsible for people, you should actually ensure (…) that you also act in the interests of people in other areas [waste separation, climate change mitigation](…). (B1, clinical staff, male, 49) | |
| Mitigation measures as health promotion and protection | If you had an infectious disease,(…), I don't just mean COVID, but all of them.(…)It [online medical consultations] also minimizes the risk of infecting someone else. This is, of course, an advantage in addition to reduced travel and related GHG emissions. (B6, clinical staff, male, 55) | |
| Environmental attitudes | Mitigation important in private life | Well, we all have a guilty conscience. We all want to change something [regarding climate change mitigation] and, as I said, I'm already trying to change a lot in my private life. (A9, administrative staff, male, 47) |
| Mitigation overdue in hospitals | It [mitigation at the hospital] is now really overdue. (…) Because I somehow feel like we're not doing anything at all here at the hospital. (B8, clinical staff, male, 59) |
GHG, greenhouse gas.