Physician Perceptions of LLMs: Adoption in Primary Care

According to the PLOS One protocol, primary care physicians view LLM adoption as promising for documentation and administrative efficiency but also fraught with ethical, workflow, and liability concerns (PLOS One).

• According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the protocol was published on 7 August 2026 and frames a descriptive qualitative study of family physicians in British Columbia.
• According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the study planned participant recruitment and data collection from 1 August 2025 to 31 January 2026, a six-month window intended to reach sample sufficiency.
• According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the protocol notes that the number of Canadians without a family doctor increased from 4.5 million in 2019 to about 6.5 million in 2023, motivating focus on primary care.
• According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the research will purposively sample physicians by self-reported LLM use: frequent (50+ uses), occasional (5–50 uses), and rare (<5 uses).

The PLOS One protocol describes a qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews to explore physician perceptions of LLMs in primary care.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the research team will purposively sample practicing family physicians in British Columbia to capture a range of LLM experience and years in practice.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), interviews will be audio- or video-recorded, transcribed verbatim, deidentified, and analyzed using both deductive codes from the authors' Technology Adoption Behavior (TAB) framework and inductive thematic coding.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the authors write, "we aim to use thematic analysis drawing on deductive and inductive approaches to describe physicians’ perceptions, " which signals an explicit hybrid coding strategy.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the team plans reflexive memos, monthly codebook review, and NVivo software for data management and analysis, with senior oversight to ensure interpretive rigor.

Answer: Researchers should design interview sampling and coding strategies that capture both perceived usefulness and technology–environment fit, as the PLOS One protocol recommends.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), the Technology Adoption Behavior (TAB) framework combines perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness with task and user fit, and researchers should plan deductive codes from TAB while allowing inductive themes to emerge.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), purposive recruitment across LLM-experience levels (50+, 5–50, <5 uses) yields contrasts that clarify whether concerns are practice- or exposure-driven.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), reflexive memos and team discussion are central to interpretation, so research teams should budget time for iterative codebook revision and multidisciplinary review.

The PLOS One protocol provides a reproducible qualitative path to understand how primary care physicians weigh benefits and risks of LLMs in clinical practice.

According to PLOS One (Pokharel et al., 2026), rigorous sampling, hybrid deductive–inductive coding, reflexivity, and clear dissemination plans are core to producing policy-relevant findings.

If your team plans a similar study, using AI-enabled tools for transcription, deidentification, and rapid thematic synthesis can shorten the route from data collection to usable insight.

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