Patients' Satisfaction Regarding Oral Healthcare Services in the North-East Region of Romania: A Preliminary Questionnaire Survey.

This research addresses a gap in the literature by conducting a comprehensive analysis of patients' level of satisfaction with dental care. METHODS: By combining quantitative and qualitative survey methods with a PSQ, this study aims to augment ongoing initiatives to enhance dental patients' experiences by painting a more comprehensive depiction of patients' level of satisfaction. RESULTS: When asked about their overall level of satisfaction 77.1% of the patients said that they received excellent services from office personnel and 72.2% said they trust their doctors. CONCLUSIONS: Assessing patient satisfaction in the realm of dental service quality is crucial for enhancing service quality and accuracy, which would benefit both patients and dentists and, ultimately, improve public health.

Creating and Validating a Questionnaire for Assessing Dentists' Self-Perception on Oral Healthcare Management-A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Questionnaires designed to test knowledge and self-perception can be valuable tools for diagnosing a dentist's understanding of the management and administration of a practice. The objective of this study was to create and authenticate a questionnaire for assessing dentists' self-perception on oral healthcare management developed from discussions with experts in this field. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In order to create and verify a questionnaire survey, a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was carried out. Participants' personal information and 31 statements across four categories made up the final questionnaire form. The answers to the questionnaire were in the form of a Likert scale. After refining the initial version, a total of 36 interviews were conducted at dental offices to verify the validity. For the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), we used the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index, the Bartlett sphericity test, and also Cronbach alpha coefficient for the validity of the questionnaire. RESULTS: The accuracy of the instrument was measured by intrarater and interrater reliability. For the EFA, all the communalities exceeded the threshold of 0.05. With a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.898, the questionnaire has sufficient internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire demonstrates robust reliability and validity, thereby affirming its suitability for its intended purpose.

Development and Functionalization of a Novel Chitosan-Based Nanosystem for Enhanced Drug Delivery.

Nowadays, infection diseases are one of the most significant threats to humans all around the world. An encouraging strategy for solving this issue and fighting resistant microorganisms is to develop drug carriers for a prolonged release of the antibiotic to the target site. The purpose of this work was to obtain metronidazole-encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles using an ion gelation route and to evaluate their properties. Due to the advantages of the ionic gelation method, the synthesized polymeric nanoparticles can be applied in various fields, especially pharmaceutical and medical. Loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency varFied depending on the amount of antibiotic in each formulation. Physicochemical characterization using scanning electron microscopy revealed a narrow particle size distribution where 90% of chitosan particles were 163.7 nm in size and chitosan-loaded metronidazole nanoparticles were 201.3 nm in size, with a zeta potential value of 36.5 mV. IR spectra revealed characteristic peaks of the drug and polymer nanoparticles. Cell viability assessment revealed that samples have no significant impact on tested cells. Release analysis showed that metronidazole was released from the chitosan matrix for 24 h in a prolonged course, implying that antibiotic-encapsulated polymer nanostructures are a promising drug delivery system to prevent or to treat various diseases. It is desirable to obtain new formulations based on drugs encapsulated in nanoparticles through different preparation methods, with reduced cytotoxic potential, in order to improve the therapeutic effect through sustained and prolonged release mechanisms of the drug correlated with the reduction of adverse effects.

The Implication of Reactive Oxygen Species and Antioxidants in Knee Osteoarthritis.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a chronic multifactorial pathology and a current and essential challenge for public health, with a negative impact on the geriatric patient's quality of life. The pathophysiology is not fully known; therefore, no specific treatment has been found to date. The increase in the number of newly diagnosed cases of KOA is worrying, and it is essential to reduce the risk factors and detect those with a protective role in this context. The destructive effects of free radicals consist of the acceleration of chondrosenescence and apoptosis. Among other risk factors, the influence of redox imbalance on the homeostasis of the osteoarticular system is highlighted. The evolution of KOA can be correlated with oxidative stress markers or antioxidant status. These factors reveal the importance of maintaining a redox balance for the joints and the whole body's health, emphasizing the importance of an individualized therapeutic approach based on antioxidant effects. This paper aims to present an updated picture of the implications of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in KOA from pathophysiological and biochemical perspectives, focusing on antioxidant systems that could establish the premises for appropriate treatment to restore the redox balance and improve the condition of patients with KOA.

[Assessment of consumer satisfaction with public health and medical services in the city of Iasi]. / Evaluarea satisfactiei consumatorilor de servicii de sanatate in sistemul public de asistenta medicala în municipiul Iasi.

AIM: The study was designed to assess patient satisfaction regarding the quality of medical care delivered in 2010, the financial accessibility of the used services, the time span accessibility to the services used, doctor-patient relationship, and quality of health services. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study was carried out on a series of 150 randomly selected patients, age-range l8 to 70 years. These patients were asked to fill out a 44-item questionnaire including demographic data (age, education, environment--rural or urban area, difficult financial situation) and questions on the quality of the delivered medical care and the performance of the qualified medical staff. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The global assessment of the quality of health services shows that it is mainly satisfactory (42.00%) and good (31.33%). The primary health services (family medicine) are mostly regarded as very good (38.00%), good (28.67%) and satisfactory (24.67%). As to the specialized outpatient services, most investigated subjects found them satisfactory (32.67%), good (27.33%), and poor and very poor (8.00%). A percentage of 35.33 of the respondents think that the services provided in hospitals are satisfactory, 18.00% good and 9.33% very good. Drug administration was considered satisfactory by 37.33%, while 22.00% and 12.6% believe it to be good and very good, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The regular application of questionnaires to measure patient satisfaction and the setting up of a system for measuring the quality of medical care will improve quality of the health services.

[Public health in Orhei County--realities and opportunities]. / Sanatatea publica in raionul Orhei: realitati si oportunitati.

Orhei District Hospital has 420 beds located in 17 wards. Providing beds in 2010 is 39.2 to 10 000 people compared with 47.7 in 2008, but it is still more than the regional average for the country- 32.6. Rotation bed, the lethality rate of hospitalization of people have not changed in the previous year. The average duration of treatment and average bed occupancy rose in 2010 compared with 2009, but the bed occupancy rate is still small--about 60%. Share divergence diagnostic is lower than the previous year--this is a good indicator of quality. Enough old equipment is still an issue for the District Hospital Orhei. Making an analysis of the distinctive features of health care evaluations, where resources are expressed by the cost and the results are expressed as effects on health, we conclude that it is necessary to change the conceptual aspects regarding health care financing. For redress the economic and financial situation, is proposed following strategy: 1. Reduced costs for hotel accommodation, by introducing "a day hospital". This system implies investigation and medical advice, and writing medication without the patient to remain hospitalized for a long time (for cases that do not require prolonged hospitalization) 2. Reducing costs the necessary material resources with, the introduction of electronic auction. 3. Introducing the concept of health management, need for hospital management, better management the four types of resources available (human resources, material resources, financial resources, time). 4. Increasing managerial capacity, through a competitive selection manager, will be combine short-term planning and the long-term strategy (more flexible) to raise the efficiency of medical care. In this respect spaces allocated section of Pulmonology, will be reassembled in geriatric beds, and the space available, will be outsourced of other persons (individuals or corporate person), under the law where they will earn additional income. It is noted that the actual development costs are increasing.

[Alcohol intake assessment in a group of hypertensive adults]. / Investigarea consumului de alcool la un lot de adulti hipertensivi.

The assessment was realised in order to obtain data for a local intervention program for preventing primary hypertension in young adults through an education program. 269 persons, of both sexes, were investigated. The frequency of elevated blood pressure values is 11.2% and the prevalence of arterial hypertension is 8.73%. The frequency of alcohol consumers is different according to gender (18.6% for male and 3.4% for female).

[Female fertility in transition period]. / Fertilitatea populatiei feminine în perioada de tranzitie.

In the last period, women fertility declined significantly. A series of factors were taken into account in a survey that included a number 440 women from Iasi county. More than half of the women have one (27.14%) or two children (30%) and almost 55% of women are satisfied with the number of children they already have. The main factors that seems to influence the fertility are: women age, duration of marriage and women profession.

[Family involvement in dental health education of school children]. / Implicarea familiei în educatia pentru sanatate oro-dentara a scolarilor.

UNLABELLED: Education for oral-dental health in children is that component of general health education aimed at creating cultural health models, cultivating in the young generation a healthy hygienic behaviour and outlying the opinions about the ways dental disorders can be prevented and treated. The most important goal of health education is to contribute to the preservation/improvement of children's oral health status. GOALS: This study has two main goals: to assess the exact health education knowledge of the questioned parents and to evaluate their involvement in the oral health education and promotion. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study included 95 parents, aged between 25 and 49 years, with children in primary schools. For data collection a questionnaire was used. The questions were grouped on common features: food habits and healthy diet, causes of oral disease, prevention of oral disease, dental visit habits, oral hygiene habits. RESULTS: The study revealed that parents have a moderate knowledge about dental health education and dental caries prevention, no significant sex differences being found, and poor knowledge about periodontal diseases prevention. As to food hygiene, parents proved a sound knowledge about healthy and unhealthy diet. Our conclusions at the end of this study is that the family with children in primary schools do not get involved in oral/dental health education.

[The role and importance of antidrug educational program in preventing toxicomania in adolescents]. / Rolul si importanta programelor educationale antidrog în prevenirea toxicomaniei la adolescenti.

If before 1989 the use of drugs in Romania was an exceptional situation, in the last few years our country evolved from a transit area to a potential market. The drug users in Romania a coming from all the social classes (workers, unemployed, students and even medical staff), but more vulnerable are the adolescents and the young unemployed people. There is a certain risk that the drug use in Romania to become a wide spread phenomenon, with a tendency of getting out of control. Thus we need an operational program in the fight against the drug use.