Background: Quality of life (QoL) and psychological distress represent an important aspect of the daily life of cancer patients. The aim of this systematic review was to critically analyze available literature regarding QoL and psychological distress in patients with small renal masses (SRMs). (2) Methods: A systematic search of EMBASE, PUBMED and American Psychological Association (APA-net) was performed on 30 April 2022. Studies were considered eligible if they included patients with SRMs, had a prospective or retrospective design, included at least 10 patients, were published in the last 20 years, and assessed the QoL or psychological distress in patients that underwent active surveillance (AS) in comparison to those that underwent ablation/surgery treatments. (3) Results: The patients that underwent AS were statistically significantly older, with smaller renal masses than those that underwent surgery/ablation. A study showed a significant reduction in total scores of Short Form-12 (SF-12) among AS patients when compared to partial nephrectomy (PN) patients at enrollment (95.0 ± 15.8 vs. 99.1 ± 13.9), 2 years (91.0 ± 16.4 vs. 100.3 ± 14.3), and at 3 years (92.9 ± 15.9 vs. 100.3 ± 14.3), p < 0.05, respectively. That was mainly due to lower physical health scores. On the other hand, another study showed that AS patients with a biopsy-proven malignant tumor had a worse psychological distress sub-score (PDSS) compared to patients treated with surgery/ablation after biopsy. (4) Conclusions: It seems that there is an influence on QoL and psychological distress while on AS of SMRs. However, due to the low amount of available data, the impact of AS or active treatment on QoL or psychological distress of patients with small renal masses warrants further investigation.

“Dynamic assessment” is a term which has come to describe a particular style of testing, but more importantly has come to be associated with an alternative way of thinking about assessment. Most succinctly, dynamic assessment involves embedding interaction within the assessment and observing and recording the learner's response and ability to profit from this interaction. There are numerous models of dynamic assessment that vary in terms of the degree of structure and the timing of the intervention, as well as the content of the intervention procedure. The greatest distinction between dynamic assessment and conventional testing, or what is frequently referred to in the literature as static assessment, can be seen in the shift from a product to a process orientation regarding testing. This distinction has numerous implications not only with regard to the actual assessment techniques but also with respect to the types of questions asked and solutions formulated with regard to low cognitive functioning and/or poor academic performance.Dynamic assessment is an interactive process between assessor and assessee. It differs from conventional psychometric assessments in that no ‘normative score’ such as an Intelligence Quotient is computed. It differs also in that mediation is an essential part of the process. Tasks are given to the assessee, with the focus primarily on how the tasks are tackled. This makes it possible to pin- point necessary areas of cognitive development. At different stages for different tasks in the overall process, mediation is given in the cognitive functions and strategies necessary to master the tasks. Dynamic assessment embeds interaction within the framework of a test-intervene-retest approach to psycho educational assessment

The medical profession requires continuous knowledge acquisition, effective communication skills, an appropriate level of empathy, and a personality profile that can support high-quality patient care. (1) The purpose of this study was to research whether there are associations or correlations between personality dimensions, empathy, and the attitudes of medical students regarding the learning of communication skills. (2) We conducted a pilot study with 267 first- and sixth-year medical students from the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences, and Technology of Targu Mures as the subjects. The students were evaluated using the DECAS personality inventory, the Romanian communication skills ability scale, and Toronto empathy scale. (3) Our results showed that regarding the level of empathy (p = 0.09) and positive attitudes related to communication skills (p = 0.52), there were no statistically significant differences between first- and sixth-year medical students. On the other hand, in the case of negative attitudes, it was observed that there was a statistical significance (p = 0.0003). It was also observed that there was a positive association between agreeableness and empathy (OR = 6.12, p < 0.0001) and a negative association between emotional stability and empathy (OR = 0.45, p = 0.01). Correlations were also found between positive attitudes related to communication skills with patients and the personality dimensions of conscientiousness (r = 0.21, p = 0.0004) and agreeableness (r = 0.15, p = 0.01), as well as between negative attitudes related to communication skills with patients and the agreeableness dimension (r = −0.23, p = 0.0001) and emotional stability dimension (r = −0.13, p = 0.02). Furthermore, the two proposed models confirmed the influence that personality and empathy have on attitudes towards learning communication skills. (4) The findings of this study show that both the personality structure and the empathy of a student are linked to their attitudes about communication.