Patients’ expectations of variation in quality of care relates to their search for comparative performance information

Table 1 Characteristics of the participants differentiated by type of hospital ^†

	Total		University hospital		Teaching hospital		Community hospital
	n	%	n	%	N	%	n	%
Women	158	57	45	55	65	57	48	58
Men	121	43	37	45	49	43	35	42
Age ≤65*	107	40	45	56	42	39	20	25
>65*	163	60	35	44	67	62	61	75
Low level of education	222	81	64	79	86	76	72	90
High level of education	52	19	17	21	27	24	8	10
Total primary *hip* replacements*	179	65	58	72	69	61	52	63
Total primary *knee* replacements	97	35	23	28	44	39	30	37
Received no previous treatment in current hospital	59	21	27	34	18	16	14	17
Received previous treatment in current hospital	217	79	53	66	98	84	68	83
Did *not* receive hospital choice options from GPs	217	80	58	72	94	84	65	82
*Received* hospital choice options from GPs	55	20	23	28	18	16	14	18
*Unaware* that they could compare hospital performance	67	24	22	27	26	23	19	23
*Aware* that they could compare hospital performance	210	76	60	73	87	77	69	77
Did *not* search for CPI	242	87	68	83	97	85	77	93
*Searched* for CPI	37	13	14	17	17	15	6	7
Expectations of quality differences in hospital care
No differences	91	33	17	21	36	32	38	46
Yes, small differences	137	49	37	45	59	52	41	49
Yes, large differences	51	18	28	34	19	17	4	5

*Not every score accumulates to 279 because of missing characteristic data.
^†Data were based on answers from eligible respondents about the search for comparative performance information and expectations of quality differences in hospital care.
CPI = comparative performance information; GP = general practitioner.

ISSN: 1472-6963