Introduction. Rational nutrition of women during pregnancy has a great influence on the developing fetus. In the properly developing pregnancy, woman should eat 3-4 quality meals per day. What is more, for the proper development of the fetus, as well as the placenta, uterus and the mammary gland, it is necessary to consume high-value protein products. Moreover, vitamins and mineral compounds are important due to the serious implications that arise if not properly provided.Aim. The aim of the paper is to assess the nutritional practices, the level of knowledge held by pregnant women with respect to proper nourishment practices, and to define the influence of level of formal education achieved upon this issue.Material and methods. The research involved 87 pregnant women who were under the care of the outpatient women's health centre and high-risk pregnancy unit of the Regional Specialist Hospital in Biała Podlaska.Results and discussion. According to most of the female respondents, information concerning proper nutrition of pregnant women is not generally available. Because of this, in completing the questionnaire, more than half of the subjects stated that they often consume white bakery products, white rice and refined pasta -with insufficient consumption of brown bread, rice and wholemeal pasta. Furthermore, while the respondents seem to consume the proper amount of potatoes, barely 8% consume other vegetables with the advised frequency. Moreover, only 31% of the respondents take-in fruits in necessary quantities. However, a majority of them frequently consume milk, yoghurt, cheese, kefir and buttermilk; plus, more than half of the respondents drink at least 1-2 litres of various kinds of liquids per day. Our results also reveal that they very rarely consume fresh fish, poultry and red beef meat, preferring cooked products. Indeed, the respondents stated that they consume meat and fish mainly in a fried form, while 52.9% of the women take-in fast food products. Of note, the surveyed women prefer animal fats. In addition, nearly 70% of the subjects consume too many eggs. Furthermore, more than 40% consume an excessive amount of sugar and sweets. To conclude, the proper amount of meals is consumed by only 52.7% of the respondents, no matter their formal education level.Conclusions. Many abnormalities were found while verifying negatively the hypothesis, according to which, level of formal education achieved has an impact on the increase of consciousness in terms of proper nourishment during the pregnancy.

The aim of the article is to study the changes in the level of cognitive and affective functioning in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing chemotherapy. Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MoCA) -screening method -was used to determine the general cognitive state of patients. The general level of depression and its characteristic symptoms were determined with the use of Depression Measurement Questionnaire. Gathering first initial results of author's own research -increasing the research sample could indicate an improved cognitive functioning in patients with multiple myeloma during chemotherapeutic treatment. Moreover, the research demonstrates a decrease in depression symptoms, i.e., self-blame and anxiety states, during chemotherapy. The study requires further research owing to a small group of research participants (n = 21), the presence of research data at the level of statistical tendency, and a need for a comparison with a group of healthy people (without a cancer diagnosis). StreszczenieCelem artykułu jest zbadanie zmian w poziomie funkcjonowania poznawczego i afektywnego u pacjentów chorych na szpiczaka mnogiego przechodzących chemoterapię.Do określenia ogólnego stanu poznawczego pacjentów użyto Montrealskiej Skali Oceny Funkcji Poznawczych -metody przesiewowej. Ogólny poziom depresji oraz charakterystyczne objawy tego zaburzenia zostały określone na podstawie narzędzia -Kwestionariusza do Pomiaru Depresji.Uzyskano pierwsze wstępne wyniki badań własnych, które przy zwiększeniu próby badawczej mogłyby świadczyć lepszym funkcjonowaniu poznawczym pacjentów chorych na szpiczaka mnogiego w trakcie leczenia chemioterapeutycznego. Ponadto odnotowano spadek objawów depresji, tj. poczucia winy i napięcia lękowego podczas terapii onkologicznej.Badania wymagają kontynuacji, ze względu na nieliczną grupę osób badanych (n = 21), wyniki na poziomie tendencji statystycznej oraz chęć porównania rezultatów badanych z grupą osób zdrowych (bez diagnozy nowotworu).

Introduction. When assessing the effectiveness of hospital management through measures of patient satisfaction, it is possible to go beyond the frameworks of the social efficiency assessment, obtaining generalized assessments of an institution. They are based on the answers to the question if patients would be willing to recommend the institution to a member of the family or a friend. Next point is establishing correlation relationships between these assessments and other measures of effectiveness, for example the value of contracts concluded with the National Health Fund (NFZ). Aim. The aim of the article is to determine the usefulness of the patient satisfaction survey as a method enabling the assessment of the management efficiency of a given medical facility in terms of the selected parameters. Material and methods. The source of the research material are the reports on the patient satisfaction assessments carried out among the patients of the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Biała Podlaska in the years 2008-2013. It was hypothesized that the higher the value of the contract with the NFZ, the greater patients’ satisfaction expressed in their generalized assessments in the given years and, on the contrary, the more positively assessed by patients hospital, among other things due to the quality of the health services, the higher the value of contracts concluded with the NFZ by the given institution. At the same time, on the basis of the data from 2013, it was decided to check whether the opinions expressed by the patients are characterized by objectivism or whether they may be dependent on the hospital ward where the satisfaction survey was carried out - for this purpose the Chi-square independence test was used. The necessary calculations as the part of the statistical analysis were made using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Results and discussion. The results of the research are a part of the general trend of patient satisfaction surveys, considered as an important source of information on the level of medical services. Conclusions. The patient satisfaction survey can be considered as a method which enables the assessment of the management efficiency of a given medical facility in terms of the selected parameters.

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Introduction. Choosing medical specialty is one of the most crucial decisions about future career of graduates. Multiplicity and variety of available options make great opportunities for development of interests and ambitions of future doctors. Unfortunately, it can also be an impediment in making decisions about path of medical career. Aim. The aim of the study was to discover if medical students have problem with choosing specialty and to ask about availability and need of career guidance for medical students. Material and methods. Voluntary survey was conducted via the Internet among medical students in Polish and foreign medical universities. Results. The total number of 565 medical students completed the survey – 371 women (66.5%) and 189 men (33.5%). They were students of 16 medical universities, 10 Polish and 6 foreign ones. Problem with choosing medical specialization reported over 70% respondents. Only 11.9% of the group declare that they participated in classes that were helpful in making decision about their future medical career. Need for career guidance was revealed in over 91.5% answers. Significant difference between genders has been found in reporting problem with choosing medical specialty – it was reported by 75.5% of women and 62.4% of men. There were no differences between the Polish and foreign students and between students in different years of study in all the questioned issues – choice of medical specialization, participation in classes which were helpful in decision making and necessity of counseling in choosing specialization. Conclusion. The results of the study clearly indicate that most of medical students have problem with choosing medical specialty. Guidance is not realized among most of students, despite the fact that the vast majority of them reports need for that kind of consultation.