LLM Adoption in Primary Care: Qualitative Protocol

According to the PLOS One protocol, the study aims to describe how primary care physicians perceive LLM adoption in clinical practice using semi-structured interviews and the Technology Adoption Behavior (TAB) framework (PLOS One).

• The PLOS One protocol was published on August 7, 2026, and the authors report the study design will use semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis (Pokharel et al., PLOS One, 2026).
• The protocol sets an anticipated recruitment and data collection window from August 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026, according to PLOS One.
• The protocol classifies physician LLM experience into three buckets: 50+ uses, 5–50 uses, and fewer than 5 uses in clinical contexts, reported in the PLOS One methods (Pokharel et al., 2026).
• The protocol cites that the number of Canadians without a family doctor rose from 4.5 million in 2019 to about 6.5 million in 2023, framing primary care urgency (PLOS One, 2026).
• The protocol states, "The study may provide timely input into relevant policies, practices, and behaviors for policymakers, health professionals, and patients, " attributing the authors' stated dissemination goals (Pokharel et al., PLOS One, 2026).

According to the PLOS One protocol, the authors developed a qualitative descriptive study using purposive sampling of practicing family physicians in British Columbia to capture a range of LLM experience levels.

According to the PLOS One protocol, recruitment will seek physicians with frequent (50+ uses), occasional (5–50 uses), and rare (<5 uses) exposure to LLMs to reach informational sufficiency, and interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and deidentified.

According to the PLOS One protocol, the study uses the Technology Adoption Behavior (TAB) framework that integrates perceptions (perceived usefulness and ease of use) and task–technology fit to guide both data collection and deductive coding.

According to the PLOS One protocol, the research team plans to combine deductive codes from TAB with inductive codes from the data, use reflexive memos, and analyze the dataset in NVivo to generate themes.

According to the PLOS One protocol, using an explicit theoretical framework like TAB improves study rigor by mapping interview prompts to constructs that inform adoption behavior.

According to the PLOS One protocol, purposive sampling across predefined experience bands (50+, 5–50, <5) enables cross-segment thematic comparison, which qualitative researchers can adopt to surface contrasts in perceived usefulness and ease of use.

According to the PLOS One protocol, reflexive memos and multidisciplinary coding teams are recommended to manage interpretive bias and to refine codes iteratively, a practice that strengthens trustworthiness in qualitative health research.

According to the PLOS One protocol, the authors expect the study to produce actionable insights for policymakers, clinicians, and researchers on safe LLM integration in primary care.

According to Pokharel et al., PLOS One (2026), the protocol will guide interviews and thematic analysis that can inform policy and practice at local and provincial levels.

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