Background: Normal intellectual and personal development can be expected in early-diagnosed and treated PKU patients. Aim of the study was to analyse quality of life and social status, which are important parameters for an overall estimation of success of treatment apart from intellectual outcome in adult PKU patients.

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BackgroundThe patient perspective is increasingly recognized as a central pillar of quality in hospital care. International evidence suggests that an array of interacting factors may influence patient satisfaction with hospital care, whereas only a few studies have examined the impact of hospital characteristics.ObjectiveTo explore which hospital characteristics exert an influence on patient satisfaction with inpatient care.DesignCross‐sectional study using secondary data.Setting and participantsA total of 999 hospitals in Germany with 300 200 patient surveys from 2013 formed the study population. Patient satisfaction was surveyed using the Patients’ Experience Questionnaire, and hospital characteristics were extracted from mandatory quality reports. Only hospitals with at least 75 surveys were included in the analysis.Main variables studied and main outcome measuresFour dimensions of patient satisfaction (medical care, nursing care, organization and overall impression) were studied as the outcome measures. Region, profit orientation, size, staffing per bed and quality scores were considered possible influencing hospital characteristics. We performed risk‐adjusted multivariate analyses.ResultsAll of the characteristics had a significant influence on the patient satisfaction dimensions (P<.05), and patients in East Germany, in small hospitals or in not‐for‐profit hospitals, were more satisfied. Additionally, more staffing per bed as well as a better process and outcome quality were associated with more satisfied patients.ConclusionStructural and quality characteristics of hospitals have a significant impact on patient satisfaction. This association confirms that patients are sensitive to important hospital quality measures and reinforces the consideration of patient satisfaction as an indicator of the quality of care.

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BackgroundIn many countries health policy encourages patients to choose their hospital, preferably by considering information of performance reports. Previous studies on hospital choice mainly have focused on patients undergoing elective surgery. This study examined a representative sample of hospital inpatients across disciplines and treatment interventions in Germany. Its research questions were: How many patients decide where to go for hospital treatment? How much time do patients have before admission? Which sources of information do they use, and which criteria are relevant to their decision?MethodsCross-sectional observational study covering 1925 inpatients of 46 departments at 17 hospitals in 2012. The stratified survey comprised 11 medical disciplines (internal medicine, gynaecology, obstetrics, paediatrics, psychiatry, orthopaedics, neurology, urology, ENT and geriatrics) on 3 hospital care levels representing 91.9% of all hospital admissions to inpatient care in Germany in 2012. The statistical analysis calculated the frequency distributions and 95% confidence intervals of characteristics related to the hospital choice.Results63.0% [60.9–65.2] of patients in Germany chose the hospital themselves, but only 21.1% [19.3–22.9] had more than one week to decide prior to admission. Major sources of information were personal knowledge of hospitals, relatives, outpatient health professionals and the Internet. Main criteria for the decision were personal experience with a hospital, recommendations from relatives and providers of outpatient services, a hospital’s reputation and distance from home. Specific quality information as provided by performance reports were of secondary importance.ConclusionsA majority of patients in the German health system choose their hospital freely. Providers of outpatient health care can have an important “agent” function in the quality-oriented hospital choice especially for patients with little time prior to admission and those who do not decide themselves. Hospitals have an impact on patients’ future hospital choices by the treatment experience they provide to patients.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-017-2712-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.