The goldmine of patient satisfaction-interaction and communication in the context of infectious diseases.

This study aimed to investigate the patient satisfaction level in terms of communication and interaction with the physicians from a Romanian Infectious Disease hospital. The objectives of the study were related to the identification of the general level of satisfaction of the patients, the evaluation of the physicians' interaction type with their physicians, by using specific behavioral variables, such as respect and attention, as well as to determine the physician-patient communication quality. The data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire and were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25. The sample comprised 82 patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Infectious Diseases. The quantitative variables were evaluated with the Shapiro-Wilk test and were described by the means and standard deviations, while the qualitative data were described by using the absolute values and percentages. The vast majority of patients were aged between 18-28 years old, were mostly females from urban areas, and 41.5% had university degrees. The outcomes of the study revealed that the general satisfaction of the patients, from a communication perspective, was reflected in the perceived and provided quality of information about the treatment. Although the vast majority of patients highly appreciated the interaction and the communication with their physicians, some individuals felt the need to read more information about their disease, especially from online sources, and they would have preferred their physicians to recommend trustful websites or health care platforms.

The role of the intestinal ultrasound in Crohn's disease diagnosis and monitoring.

Crohn's disease is characterized by persistent or recurrent chronic inflammation that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. It has an oscillating evolution, with periods of activity alternating with periods of remission. Crohn's disease has a significant impact on the economic status due to its increasing prevalence, often affecting young people. Suitable management for these patients involves frequent evaluations. Even though colonoscopy is the gold standard for the assessment of severity and mucosal healing, it is an invasive maneuver, not easily accepted by patients, and it does not have good repeatability. Intestinal ultrasound has the advantage of being non-irradiating, non-invasive, well-tolerated, cheap, and easy to repeat. Ultrasound parameters such as bowel wall thickness, intestinal wall architecture, intramural vascularisation, proliferation of mesenteric fatty conjunctive tissue, and intraperitoneal fluid can provide good information regarding the severity of the disease, the differentiation between remission and relapse, and its complications. Some of the latest studies show good correlations between ultrasound parameters and inflammation markers (C-reactive protein, fecal calprotectin) and clinical severity scores of Crohn's disease. Consequently, the importance of intestinal ultrasound has increased lately, and recent studies support its use to evaluate the severity of inflammation, differentiate between active disease and relapse, monitor therapy response and guide treatment, evaluate prognosis, and diagnose complications.

Marketing management practices in an emergency care department.

The aim of this case study was to identify effective marketing management strategies in the Emergency Care Department of a Romanian Emergency Hospital. An observational design study was conducted, and the instrument for collecting the data was the self-administered questionnaire. Out of 100 questionnaires completed, 74 proved to be valid. The statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software version 20 and Microsoft Office Excel 2013. Quantitative variables were described by means and standard deviations, whereas for the qualitative variables, frequencies and percentages were used. Most of the respondents were aged between 28 and 35 years (33.8%) and women (60.8%). The emergency room (ER) physicians identified the following factors as being important in becoming very good doctors: continuous specialization (81.1%), reading medical literature (78.4%), and getting involved in more complicated cases (78.4%). The ER physicians mentioned that most of their patients were satisfied with the medical information received (31.1%), properly understood the medical information received (18.9%), and 68.9% of the doctors considered that patients were showing them total respect. Although 40.5% of the ER physicians declared they were suffering from burnout, 25.7% felt satisfied and joyful in their daily activities. Today's context triggered the need to integrate the concept of consumer value-driven care in the health care system, especially in the ER departments, by implementing the principles of efficient marketing management practices.