[How do patients choose a hospital for elective surgery?].

BACKGROUND

Patients want to decide on health care providers. Published quality reports are supposed to help but are rarely used. How patients manage choosing a hospital for elective surgery in Germany and whether they use the hospital quality reports was explored for the Federal Joint Committee.

METHOD

A cross-sectional survey asked 48 hospitalized patients from 5 specialties in 4 hospitals after elective surgery about their criteria and sources of information, and their use of the compulsory quality reports for choosing the hospital. Data were analyzed descriptively.

RESULTS

To choose their hospital is very important for patients with elective surgery and they do so. Usually there is enough time to obtain information before admission. The three main criteria are own experience with a hospital, short distance from their homes, and the hospital's expertise. The main sources of information are relatives, contact with the hospital's outpatient departments, and patient's ambulatory health care provider. Written information is only used as supplementary information. The compulsory quality reports are not known and, hence, are not used.