Teleconsultations Quality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland in the Opinions of Generation Z Adults.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to collect and evaluate the opinions of representatives of Generation Z on their satisfaction with medical teleconsultation services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Methods: An online survey was conducted from April to June 2021. We received replies from 424 students. The research tools used comprised a validated Doctor-Patient Communication (DPC) questionnaire, the Telehealth Satisfaction Scale (TeSS), and a self-authored questionnaire. Results: About 60% of the respondents rated communication with a doctor during the remote visit as medium, with a DPC score value in the intermediate range (36-50). Only 7.5% of students rated DPC as high (DPC score over 50). Also, satisfaction with telemedicine measured by the modified Telehealth Satisfaction Scale was assessed as intermediate by 61.3% of respondents. DPC and satisfaction with telemedicine services are better assessed by students living in large cities and those who used paid telemedicine services. Conclusions: The need to improve the quality of DPC has been observed. Also, the functioning of telemedicine platforms, with the possibility of using images in teleconsultations would be welcome, with the concomitant leveling out of the disproportions in the quality of telemedicine services and DPC between urban and rural areas, as well as between commercial and noncommercial services. This could improve the service delivery process and, consequently, be beneficial for the competitiveness of telemedicine, which will be based on medical rather than organizational aspects.

Contemporary treatment patterns in plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting about 2% of the general population. Although there are many treatment options, and new medications have been introduced, the disease is considered not curable, and it may seriously affect patients' quality of life. AIM: The authors present contemporary treatment patterns used by dermatologists in Poland to manage plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, particularly regarding systemic treatment. The authors also aimed to analyse how these treatment patterns are influenced by the guidelines of the Polish Dermatological Society. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The author's questionnaire, consisting of 13 questions was used. It included demographic and professional characteristics of questioned dermatologists, as well as the assessment of the attitudes towards management of plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. RESULTS: A total of 132 dermatologists completed the questionnaire. Most of the specialists worked in out-patient clinics and private practices. The most commonly used topicals for psoriasis included: glucocorticosteroids, a combination of glucocorticosteroid and vitamin D analogue and salicylic acid. Regarding the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, most of the specialists declared using systemic therapy and a combination of systemic therapy and phototherapy. The majority of the respondents were particularly concerned with possible side effects or difficulties in qualifying and monitoring the patients, and less frequently on the cost of the therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Observations suggest that 60% of physicians have some reservation to initiate systemic treatment in outpatient clinics, and they admit that they lack additional training. On the other hand, it seems also that the organization of systemic treatment in psoriasis may generate these difficulties and thus necessitate additional effort. Another factor could be the budget - not only regarding healthcare professionals, but also the patient, sometimes financing various investigations from private resources.

A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Health Situation in Poland Based on Functional Discriminant Coordinates.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the provinces of Poland are homogeneous in terms of the observed spatio-temporal data characterizing the health situation of their inhabitants. The health situation is understood as a set of selected factors influencing inhabitants' health and the healthcare system in their area of residence. So far, studies concerning the health situation of selected territorial units have been based on data relating to a specific year rather than longer periods. The task of assessing province homogeneity was carried out in two stages. In stage one, the original spatio-temporal data space (space of multivariate time series) was transformed into a functional discriminant coordinates space. The resulting functional discriminant coordinates are synthetic measures of the health situation of inhabitants of particular provinces. These measures contain complete information regarding 8 diagnostic variables examined over a period of 6 years. In the second stage, the Ward method, commonly used in cluster analysis, was applied in order to identify groups of homogeneous provinces in the space of functional discriminant coordinates. Sixteen provinces were divided into four clusters. The homogeneity of the clusters was confirmed by the multivariate functional coefficient of variation.