• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.303-315
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• 2019

In 2018, 14.3 percent of South Korea's elderly population aged 65 or older entered an aged society and is expected to enter a super-aged society with more than 20 percent of the elderly population around 2025. Older adults often visit different medical institutions to take medicine, which requires medication management, such as interaction between each drug. In this study, we wanted to analyze the U.S. system, which specializes in drug management for the elderly, and Korea's system, which is about to enter a super-aged society, to find a systematic way to manage drugs for the elderly. The method of study was a systematic literature study on elderly drug management in Korea and the United States. Studies have shown that the United States has enacted the Medication Therapy Management (MTM) for the elderly and has been running the Senior Drug Enforcement Program. In Korea, a community care business is underway to manage drugs for senior citizens, but it is analyzed that the elderly need to have a special medicine system for senior citizens to use them more safely.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.4
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• pp.97-115
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• 2003

Middle and high school girl students' menstruation characteristics, appearance of menstruation dysmenorrhea, and coping with the menstruation dysmenorrhea were examined in order to give information in instructing girl students about menstruation dysmenorrhea, in delivering health education in the school, and establishing health policy. 970 girl students in middle and high schools in Cheju-do were selected and surveyed using the questionnaire the author developed based on the previous studies. The findings are as follows. First, the age of first menstruation was average $12.9{\pm}1.22$ years. The younger they were, the earlier their first menstruation came. The most common menstrual cycle was such one that continuously irregular from the beginning or that regular and irregular cycle run together. The first irregular menstrual cycle changed regular one within 1 or 2 years. Most of the respondents had normal menstrual cycle of $21{\sim}35$ days and menstruation period of $3{\sim}8$ days. Second, symptom of menstruation dysmenorrhea was orderly; hurt in the underbelly, tired, hurt in the waist, and headache. It was higher with high school students than middle school students. For the most part, time of heavy menstruation dysmenorrhea was the 2nd day after menstruation starts and period of menstruation dysmenorrhea was 2 days. More than the half of the respondents felt that the present menstruation dysmenorrhea was similar with the first one and they felt not comport in daily life due to menstruation dysmenorrhea, and 'hard to live a normal life' was higher with the high school girl students than with the middle school students. Third, how to cope with menstruation dysmenorrhea was enough sleep, relax and rest, taking a hot water shower, listening to music or watching a movie, taking medicine, and doing excercise. Few of the respondents have ever visited a doctor due to menstruation dysmenorrhea, and the reason was mostly irregular menstruation and heavy dysmenorrhea. Forth, when they took medicine due to menstruation dysmenorrhea, they gathered information on the medicine from family members and friends, while extremely low from a pharmacist or a doctor. The most of them have ever took medicine during menstruation once and took standard dose. While excess dosage was higher with high school students than with middle school students. From these findings, a good many girls are experiencing menstruation dysmenorrhea since their first menstruation. To discover early the severely abnormal findings and to treat, more interest from home and school, counseling and sexual education on time, and expert's diagnosis are necessary. Rather than unconditionally taking pain-relievers which can plainly solve the pain, continuous health education at home and in the school should be carried on for the girls to practice proper measures one think effective or an expert recommends.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2012

In Korea, elderly population aged 65 and older are about 5.0% and 10.7% in 1990 and 2009, respectively. Since elderly people may experience physiologic changes with aging and their pharmacodynamic and pharmcokinetic parameters also have been undergone changes, several adverse drug reactions can occur more frequently than young people. Especially, neuropsychiatric adverse drug reactions such as delirium and drowsiness endanger elderly patients more. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outpatient prescriptions using drug causing delirium and drowsiness in elderly patients aged 65 and older. We retrospectively reviewed prescriptions for elderly patients collected from four community pharmacies from January 2nd to February 1st, 2010. One pharmacy was located closed to a general hospital, and others were located closed to a internal medicine or an ENT clinic. The each number of the collected prescriptions was followings; Group A (n=496) from internal medicine department of a general hospital; Group B (n=44) from ENT department of general hospital; Group C (n=144) from internal medicine clinic; Group D (n=110) from ENT clinic. In result, in Group A, the average number of prescribed drugs causing delirium or drowsiness per Rx was 2.38 In Group B, the average number of prescribed drugs causing delirium or drowsiness per Rx was 2.09 In Group C, the average number of prescribed drugs causing delirium or drowsiness per Rx was 2.51. In Group D, the average number of prescribed drugs causing delirium or drowsiness per Rx was 2.72. Especially, in Group D, the percentage of prescription that drugs causing delirium or drowsiness per Rx prescribed more than 3 is 52.73% In all the 4 groups, over the 60% of drugs causing delirium and/or drowsiness per prescription of elderly patients were prescribed. It means elderly patients take 2 drugs causing delirium and/or drowsiness among 3 drugs, which is very serious. Frequently prescribed drugs causing delirium and/or drowsiness were followings; GI agents, antitussives & expectorants, histamine H1 antagonist, analgesics, antibiotics. Among these drugs, GI agents was high raking in all the 4 groups, and pharmacists should caution elderly patients when counseling. In the internal medicine groups (Group A,C), drugs concerning chronic diseases were prescribed frequently. In conclusion, pharmacist's role is important. Pharmacists are well informed of the drugs causing delirium or drowsiness and it is important to explain about ADRs slowly and easily to the elderly patients that receive drugs causing delirium or drowsiness. And institutional device is needed. For example, when doctors prescribe drugs for the elderly patients, message is needed that supply some informations about drugs causing delirium or drowsiness.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.102-110
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• 1987

One of the familiar medical facility that most people reach easily in Korea is the drug store. In Korea, it is possible to purchase all kinds of common drugs without physician's prescriptions, which caused some problems. In other words, such treatment without professional supervision has led to medical, social and economical problems. In view of the above, this study is aimed at revealing the actual status of long-term use of drugs in some urban residents. Long-term use of drugs is operationally defined as using certain drugs at least once a week for more than 3 months. This survey took the residents of Guro 6-Dong where was one of the target areas for Community Health Development Project managed by Korea University as a target population. A sample of 1,517 residents was selected by the multistage sampling method. The interview was conducted on September 21st and 22nd in 1985. The object of this study was to compare the result with that of the rural area which was obtained by the same method, tools and research team, prior to this study in 1984. The results were as follows; 1) The age-standardization of the study showed that 97 per 1,000 urban residents were actually on long-term drug use. The prevalance of long-term use is high in accordance with aging and low with education level. 2) Out of 1,000 urban samples the most popular item involved in the long-term drug use was antipyretic-analgesic-antiinflammatory drug (26), and next in order was vitamin (23), antibiotics (13), digestives (10) and antacids (7). In the rural samples as for compare, that was antipyretic-analgesic-antiinflammatory drug (100), antacids (36), digestives (23), adrenocortical hormones (12) etc. 3) With antipyrctic-analgesic-antiinflammatory drugs, 50% of the urban samples were taking for more than a year, whereas such were 82.7% of the rural samples. Using such a high percentage of antipyretic-analgesic-antiinflamatory drugs in the rural residents is probably due to the high prevalence rate of musculo-skeletal diseases. 4) The urban long-term drug users of antipyretic-analgesic-antiinflammatory drugs were influenced mostly by the mass media (43.6%), next in order was pharmacist (35.9%) and physician (10.3%). Comparing with the result from the rural areas the role of mass media was much more influencial in the urban areas. 60% of them consulted with pharmacists, 14.3% with physicians and 25.7% had no history of consultation in the urban samples. 5) Considering the incidence of knowing the possible side-effects of each drug, 28.2% of the urban residents had no recognition about side-effects prior to use antipyretic-analgesic-antiinflammatory drugs. In the rural residents, 29.67o had no knowledge about the side-effects before using the drug. 6) For the solution of the above problems, it is necessary to limit the advertisement of some drugs by the parmaceutical company. And therapeutic drugs which may bring on side effects in case of long-term use should not be sold at drug stores without physician's prescription.