[COMMUNICATION AND HEALTH OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES].

Although survey results indicate clear connection between the physician-patient communication and health outcomes, mechanisms of their action are still insufficiently clear. The aim was to investigate the specificity of communication with patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases and the impact of good communication on measurable outcomes. We performed PubMed (Medline) search using the following key words: communication, health outcomes, and gastrointestinal diseases. Seven pathways through which communication can lead to better health include increased access to care, greater patient knowledge and shared understanding, higher quality medical decisions, enhanced therapeutic alliances, increased social support, patient agency and empowerment, and better management of emotions. Although these pathways were explored with respect to cancer care, they are certainly applicable to other health conditions as well, including the care of patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases. Although proposing a number of pathways through which communication can lead to improved health, it should be emphasized that the relative importance of a particular pathway will depend on the outcome of interest, the health condition, where the patient is in the illness trajectory, and the patient's life circumstances. Besides, research increasingly points to the importance of placebo effect, and it is recommended that health professionals encourage placebo effect by applying precisely targeted communication skills, as the unquestionable and successful part of many treatments. It is important that the clinician knows the possible positive and negative effects of communication on health outcomes, and in daily work consciously maximizes therapeutic effects of communication, reaching its proximal (understanding, satisfaction, clinician-patient agreement, trust, feeling known, rapport, motivation) and intermediate outcomes (access to care, quality medical decision, commitment to treatment, trust in the system, social support, self-care skills, emotional management) to improve the health of patients he cares for.

Lodoxamide as adjuvant therapy in patients with dry eye.

Dry eye, due to its impaired function of tear film becomes more susceptible to all kinds of airborne allergens. Due to air pollution this is more marked in urban areas, and is compounded by the modern way of life. There are various standard topical medications which alleviate allergic reaction of the eye, but many of them must be administered with caution and only on short term due to their potentially hazardous side effects. The purpose of this work is to assess the efficacy of lodoxamide, a new antiallergic medication for topical use, whose advantage is low or absent risk of adverse side effects, in alleviating local allergic reactions of the eye in patients with dry eye. Research has shown that, compared to treatment with eye lubricants alone (artificial tears), treatment with artificial tears combined with lodoxamide has resulted in more marked decrease in the signs of inflammation, and to the lesser extent to the reduction of the symptoms as well.