[How do patients evaluate general practice? German results from the European Project on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care (EUROPEP)].

German results from the European Project on Patient Evaluation of General Practice Care (EUROPEP). As part of the European collaborative study, "EUROPEP" 2224 patients in Germany (response rate 77.2%) filled in a questionnaire to evaluate their general practitioners (GP's) and the care they were delivering over the last 12 month. Overall satisfaction was high: 95.4% reported that they had no reasons to change to another GP. On a five-point scale ranging from 'excellent' to 'poor' the possibility to reach the practice on the phone was evaluated best (73.8% 'excellent') and waiting times were rated worst (31.0% 'excellent'). Also less often rated 'excellent' than other items were 'preparing the patient for what to expect from specialist or hospital care' (53.3%), 'the GP's knowledge on what s/he had done or told the patient during previous contacts' (54.3%) and 'helping the patient to deal with emotional problems related to her/his health status' (54.6%). Relevant differences between practices concerning evaluation of care and sociodemografic background of their patients were detected. Patient evaluation of care can contribute to make practices an their teams more responsive to patients needs.