Table 4 Examples of themes and thick descriptions

Professional status, discrimination and development

Perceived their professional identity as being low

‘You say you are a TB doctor, but actually, you do not have any power. For other doctors, if patients ask for treatment, doctors will have good faces. But for TB patients, most are poor, vulnerable, had little education.’ Dr. F1 (Vice Director, County A hospital)

Working conditions: dissatisfaction with payment

Unified implementation of performance-based payment and ‘economic assessment’ among all the clinical departments regarded as being unfair to the infectious disease control doctors

‘Our economic assessments system is the same as that in other clinical departments, but when there is emerging infectious disease, they say you need to do this and do that! We have become ‘superman’. There is not any preferential policy…’ Dr. Q2 (Head of Infectious Disease Control Department, County B hospital)

Working environment: concerns about infection risk and health protection

TB doctors or laboratory staff who need to have face-to-face contact with patients or sputum samples remained at most risk

‘The most important issue is the infectious risk due to the face-to-face communication between TB doctors and patients. They need to talk a lot with patients, as patients will not understand if you just explain once. It is also dangerous for the laboratory staff. So TB doctors and laboratory staff are the most dangerous.’ Dr. S2 (Head of the Central laboratory Department, County B hospital)