• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.71-79
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• 2014

Objectives of this study are to investigate transition history of pharmacist license examination in Korea and to compare three suggestions for new examination system proposed by National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board, Korean Association of Pharmacy Education, and Korean Pharmaceutical Association. Future task to help the examination system meet global standard is also discussed. Regulations on the examination system were retrieved from the sources posted in Ministry of Government Legislation homepage. Efforts devoted by the three organizations to make amendment on the regulations were collected from reports, official documents, minutes, and handout materials issued by the organizations. Ministry of Health and Welfare made amendment on the examination system in 2013 by rearranging the existing natural science-based eleven subjects to two subjects along with addition of a new subject named clinical-practical pharmacy. Unfortunately, however, the amendment stipulates that the new subject should include manufacturing and quality control of pharmaceuticals as part of contents in the examination. It is strongly urged that the contents of the examination should focus on professional competency as pharmacist in clinical situation. Future task to make revision on this issue is warranted to help new pharmacist enable to provide pharmaceutical care service to patients.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2006

Background : The promotion and advertisement of pharmaceuticals should be based on evidence from clinical trials. We conducted this study to assess whether the pharmaceutical advertisement claims in Korean medical journals had relevant references, and whether the claims were supported by the references. Methods : We reviewed pharmaceutical advertisements in five Korean medical journals issued during the first half of 1999 and during the first half of 2004. Three investigators independently reviewed the advertisements to see whether the studies quoted to endorse the advertising messages supported the corresponding claims. Using multiple logistic regression analyses, we investigated which factors were associated with the quality of the advertisement claims. Results : From the 550 advertisements in the five journals, we identified 157 different advertisements and 475 different promotional claims. Only 149 claims had at least one reference, and 105 claims had references of published article. We could find supporting evidences in the 90 claims. The factors which were associated with the quality of advertisement claims were category of drugs, category of claims, and the manufacturer characteristics. Claims for cardiovascular and endocrine drugs, and claims on efficacy, and claims of multinational company were more evidence-based. Conclusion : Majority of the pharmaceutical advertisement claims in Korea did not have appropriate references. Drug category, claim category, and the manufacturer characteristics were associated with the quality of advertisement claims, and the manufacturer characteristics was the most important determinants.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.297-318
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• 2014

The study has try to analyze firm-level marketing strategy for making inroads into United Arab Emirate(UAE) in the Middle East Rrgion. Korea's pharmaceutical medicine industry can overcome that growth limit by strategically advancing into the world market even the its market share is slight as of 2013. The results of Marketing Mix strategies to enter the UAE pharmaceutical medicine market are as follows: STP strategy and Marketing Mix strategy based on the findings of this study, the practical implications of the following. First of all, domestic pharmaceutical industries in Korea due to the domestic market, growth in the various institutional devices have limits on the expansion. On the other hand, supports the Government's active policy of UAE health care industry is booming. UAE Government medical facilities and health care in the health care industry in 2010 to improve the level of 80 billion dollars of investment. The UAE's medical sector is equipped with independent regulatory regime by the Emirates. The UAE is a foreign worker influx has been showing a high population growth rate, over the last 30 years, UAE resident population has increased about 7 times. The UAE Government to improve the quality of medical services, the private sector and the public to encourage the signing of partnership (PPP) can also be found in the regulation of foreign direct investment. The results of this study would play a role in analyzing a marketing strategy to make inroads into UAE pharmaceutical medicine market.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.136-153
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• 2019

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of skin care foods on the synthesis of pro-collagen type I C peptide and suppression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 secretion through an in vitro study using fibroblasts (Hs68 cells) and keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). Among the three skin care foods developed in this study, three beans cookie and avocado yoghurt influenced the production of pro-collagen type I C peptide and suppressed MMP-1 secretion; however, tiger nut Galsu drink did not exhibit these effects. All skin care foods, including three beans cookie and plain yoghurt ($50{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.001) influenced the suppression of MMP-1 in addition to other commercially available breast milk production support foods examined, such as Heath Heather ($50{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.001), Happy Mama ($50{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.01), BioLys ($50{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.001), Enfamama ($25{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.0001), and Pregnagen ($25{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.001). Avocado fruit yoghurt ($25{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.05), avocado fruit jam yoghurt ($50{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.01), Enfamama ($100{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.05), and Pregnagen ($100{\mu}g/mL$, p<0.05) influenced the production of pro-collagen type I C peptide and suppressed MMP-1 secretion. This result indicates that only avocado jam yoghurt significantly influenced both the prevention of skin keratinization and acceleration of recovery of skin fibrous structure. Therefore, avocado is a favorable ingredient for nutrition-balanced dietary foods or an essential ingredient in products for revitalization of human skin.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.179-187
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• 2018

Proteomic analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from biological fluid is a powerful approach to discover potential biomarkers for human diseases including cancers, as EV secreted to biological fluids are originated from the affected tissue. In order to investigate significant molecules related to the pathogenesis of bladder cancer, EVs were isolated from patient urine which was analyzed by mass spectrometry based proteomics. Comparison of the EV proteome to the whole urine proteome demonstrated an increased number of protein identification in EV. Comparative MS analyses of urinary EV from control subjects and bladder cancer patients identified a total of 1,222 proteins. Statistical analyses provided 56 proteins significantly increased in bladder cancer urine, including proteins for which expression levels varied by cancer stage (P-value < 0.05). While urine represents a valuable, non-invasive specimen for biomarker discovery in urologic cancers, there is a high degree of intra- and inter-individual variability in urine samples. The enrichment of urinary EV demonstrated its capability and applicability of providing a focused identification of biologically relevant proteins in urological diseases.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.202-215
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• 1998

Purpose : To shorten processing time for variety of medical affairs of the patient at the outpatient clinic of a big hospital is very important to qualify medical care of the patient. Therefore, patient's waiting time for drug delivery after doctor's prescription is often utilized as a strong tool to evaluate patient satisfaction with a medical care provided. We performed this study to investigate factors influencing patient satisfaction related with waiting time for drug delivery. Methods : The data were collected from July 21 to August 12, 1998. A total 535 patients or their families who visited outpatient clinics of Inha University Hospital were subjected to evaluate the drug delivery time and the level of their satisfaction related, which were compared with those objectively evaluated by Quality Improvement Team. The reliability of the scale was tested with Cronbach's alpha, and the data were analyzed using frequency, t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis and multiple regression. Results : The mean drug delivery time subjectively evaluated by the patient (16.1 13.0 min) was longer than that objectively evaluated (10.9 7.6 min) by 5.2 min. Drug delivery time objectively evaluated was influenced by the prescription contents, total amount or type of drug dispensed, etc, as expected. The time discrepancy between two evaluations was influenced by several causative factors. One of those proved to be a patient's late response to the information from the pharmacy which the drug is ready to deliver. Interestingly, this discrepancy was found to be more prominent especially when waiting place for drug delivery was not less crowded. Other factors, pharmaceutical counseling at the pharmacy, emotional status or behavior of a patient while he waits for the medicine, were also found to influence the time subjectively evaluated. Regarding the degree of patient satisfaction with the drug delivery, majority of patients accepted drug delivery time with less than 10 min. It was also found to be influenced by emotional status of the patient as well as kindness or activity of pharmaceutical counselor. Conclusion : The results show that, besides prescription contents, behavior pattern or emotional status of a patient, environment of the waiting place, and quality of pharmaceutical counseling at the pharmacy, may influence the patient's subjective evaluation of waiting time for drug delivery and his satisfaction related with the service in the big hospital. In order to improve patient satisfaction related with waiting time for drug delivery, it will be cost effective to qualify pharmaceutical counseling and information system at the drug delivery site or waiting place rather than to shorten the real processing time within the pharmacy.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2020

Background: Reducing the total anticholinergic burden (AB) in older adults is recommended owing to the several peripheral and central adverse effects. This study aimed to identify the AB status of patients admitted to geriatric centers for assessing the influence of the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary geriatric team care on reducing the AB. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 328 older patients hospitalized in geriatric centers from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, who received comprehensive geriatric assessment and pharmaceutical interventions from a multidisciplinary geriatric team. We measured the total AB scores for the medications at the time of admission and upon hospital discharge using the Korean Anticholinergic Burden Scale (KABS). The pre-admission factors associated with high AB (KABS score ≥3) at the time of admission were identified. Results: The proportion of patients with high AB significantly decreased from 41.8% (136/328) at the time of admission to 25.0% (82/328) on discharge (p<0.001). The pre-admission AB of patients transferred from skilled nursing facilities (odds ratio[OR]: 2.85, 95% CI: 1.26-3.75), taking more than 10 medications (OR: 3.70, 95% CI: 1.55-8.82), suffering from delirium (OR: 2.80, 95% CI: 1.04-7.50), or depression (OR: 2.78, 95% CI: 1.04-7.41) were significantly high. Antipsychotics were the most frequent classes of drugs that contributed to the total KABS score at the time of admission, followed by antihistamines. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the multidisciplinary teams for geriatric care are effective at reducing AB in older adults. The factors associated with high AB should be considered when targeting pharmaceutical care in geriatric individuals.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.311-325
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• 2020

Background: Health statistics of pharmaceutical use and expenditure are essential to make and implement evidence-based pharmaceutical policy. This study aims to demonstrate the methods and results of pharmaceutical consumption and sales in 2018 according to the sources and methods given by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Methods: The medication list contains 39,346 medicines both reimbursed and non-reimbursed by the National Health Insurance in 2018. We used the therapeutic categories based on Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical Classification of World Health Organization. This study analyzed National Health Insurance claims data and supply data generated from wholesalers to health care facilities. The indicators are defined daily dose (DDD), per 1,000 inhabitants per day and US$ per capita. Results: In South Korea, the number of medications to which DDD were assigned was 18,055 and it was 45.9% of the total number of medications on the list. The consumption in anti-infective for systemic use (J) and musculo-skeletal system (M) was higher than the mean consumption among the OECD countries. The pharmaceutical sales per person in Korea was also higher than the mean sales per person across the OECD countries. Conclusion: We sought to explain the methods to produce pharmaceutical consumption and sales statistics which we had submitted annually to OECD. Considering the characteristics of pharmaceutical statistics, a direct comparison should be approached with caution. Since the growth in pharmaceutical spending has greatly increased over the past decade, we need to monitor pharmaceutical consumption and expenditure consistently.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.58-76
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• 2003

Background : Aim of this study is focused on the analysis of the needed abilities of medical representatives resulting in building up the market and increasing sales. It is to propose methods to increase this ability ensuring continuous growth in market share and profit. Methods : A survey was conducted between January 6 and May 31, 2003. Using SPSS(Version 10.0), the collected data was analyzed by Hotelling T2, factor analysis. Some hypotheses were selected to include the conclusion. Some questionnaires for physicians working in hospitals or clinics and the medical representatives working in a pharmaceutical company were created and asked to them to either prove or reject those hypotheses. The results were analyzed to find the primary factors that effect the interactions between physician and the medical representatives. These factors were also studied along with the theoretical research based on published references. Results : The results were as follows. The main reasons for the physician to meet with a medical representatives were collection of product informations needed for patient treatment and collection of informations on current medical issue and as well as personal interests. The main parameters by which physicians evaluate the medical representatives are human relationship including sincerity and manners and supply of accurate and unbiased information on products. Overall, the medical representatives' perception on the importance of medical knowledge and ability to deliver it are lower than that expected by physicians. Conclusion : Medical and pharmaceutical companies' environment are changed rapidly. And those changes forced medical representatives to set new roles and competency. In order to drive away from the past 'rule of thumb' and 'adaptation to circumstance', optimal method and systemic development to train and support the medical representatives should be quipped. They will help medical representatives to be specialists in medical knowledge and to understand the exact need of health care professions. Product competitiveness will be increased and eventually successful business can be achieved through it.

• CELLMED
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.9.1-9.6
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• 2016

Traditional healers in Ghana are so near to the health needs and aspirations of the majority of people who live mostly in the rural areas, yet have been excluded from the formal health care delivery system. Medical systems in Africa and around the globe have broad-ranging ties to the cosmology and the way of life of a people. However, in Ghana, colonialism and external orientation have had a negative influence on Traditional Medicine (TRM). Thus, in Ghana, Traditional healers can be described as a marginalized group and yet their roles in effective delivery of primary and mental health care cannot be overemphasized. This paper elucidates advocacy work toward medical pluralism in Ghana. First, the influence of colonialism on TRM is briefly examined, followed by highlights on advocacy work intended to include TRM in the health care system. Based on "small wins", challenges, successes, and prospects of our advocacy are discussed.