• 한국학교보건학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.297-307
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• 1998

The purpose of this paper is to understand the prescription and management of medicines by school-nurses. A survey was mailed to 199 school-nurses in elementary and secondary schools in Pusan from February 10 to March 31, 1997. It was shown that 97.0% of the schools have visiting school-doctors and only 29.6% have visiting school-pharmacists. 36.7% of the respondents don't know the amount of this annual health-related budget. Concerning the annual budget of purchasing medicines, 50.4% of the elementary schools spend 210,000 won to 400,000 won and 45.0% of the secondary schools spend more than 610,000 won. 56.3% of the respondents said the budget was enough, but 5% said it was not. 70.9% of the schools purchase medicines twice a year. The average number of students visiting the nurse in a year are 1,892 in elementary schools, 1.6 times per student and 2,471 in secondary schools, 1.7 times per student, respectively. The annual average number of students who were prescribed medicine a year are 1,804 in elementary schools, 1.5 times per student, 2,372 in secondary schools, 1.7 times per student. The percentage of students who are prescribed internal medicines was 45.5% in elementary, schools and 61.3% in secondary schools, respectively. To the preralence sicknesses, the wound was the most common, accounting for 42.7% in elementary and 22.6% in secondary schools. Next was abdominal pain, indigestion, and headaches in elementary schools; and colds, indigestion, and abdominal pain in secondary schools, respectively. To the dirersity of medicines prescribed: internal medicines 29 for abdominal pain, 25 for indigestion, 8 for physiological pain, 13 for headaches, 30 for colds, and 10 for eye disease; external medicines 2 for skin disease, 10 for toothaches and 31 for other sicknesses. 42.7% of the respondents said the schools have enough medicines, but 7.6% said that schools need more. 50.8% of the respondents said they get information on medicines from TV advertisements or medicine-related books, 16.6% get information from visiting pharmacists. More experienced nurse-teachers are likely to get information from visiting pharmacists, but 37.5% of the respondents who have less then four year experience in school get information through other nurse-teachers before deciding to buy medicines. To the choice of medicines: 83.9% of the respondents said that they choose safe medicines with less side-effects. 40.7% responded that they write down the prescription history daily, but 6.1% said they do this only once in two or three months. To the confidence in prescriptions, 37.7% of the respondents said they are sure of the effectiveness of the medicines they prescribe. To what extent the nurse-teachers prescribe, 50.3% said they prescribe to the level of anagelics, and 21.1% prescribe to anti-histamines and antibiotics. 80.4% said that the details of illnesses and medicines to be prescribed in school should be regulated by a school health-care law. To the problems in prescription, 79.9% of the respondents worry about abuse by students who want prescriptions but have no serious illnesses, 57.8% worrg about the lack of information on medicines and dosage. And 55.8% said they can't tell the difference between medicines whose brands are different, but bare the same ingredients. The conclusion of this study is that a health education program is necessary to prevent the misuse or abuse by students and a continuing education program for school-nurses is needed to solve the problems related to the purchasing and prescription of medicines. The criteria of the prescription of medicines also should be regulated by a school health-care law or management acts.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.93-100
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• 2012

Objective: This study is to review the current state of services offered to pharmacy users, and develop a service design converging a prescription service and a smart phone application service in order to enhance patients' experience at pharmacies and home. Background: Under the new medical system; separation of prescribing and dispensing drugs, a doctor writes a prescription to their patients and patients have their prescription filled at the pharmacy. As the number of flue, allergy and atopy patients has increased, waiting lines have been longer at pharmacies. Besides, the current medical service system lacks of providing proper information on prescribed pills to patients. There are already services offered during waiting times such as offering free drinks, magazines or suggesting general drugs which you can buy without prescription, however they neither cover the current medical service's shorts nor shorten the waiting time. Method: I researched objective and perceived waiting times reduction methods, the current service status at pharmacies, and the government's policy direction in a medical service. Also, I observed a patient's journey from the hospital to pharmacy and then home. I examined the circumstance at pharmacies, patients' behaviors and their thoughts during their journey, and extracted three main goals to design a service in order to help patients have positive perception during the waiting time; (1) to reduce the perceived time by the way of visualizing time and offering readings about what patients consider necessary, (2) to educate patients what they are into and how to get through, (3) to establish trust among patients, doctors and pharmacists. Based on three goals, I designed a structure and a wireframe for a new service application of smart phones. Results: With a new service design for pharmacy users, users can track their medical record and visit the information about their current medical treatments anytime. Also the service helps patients build reliable relationships with doctors and pharmacists. Conclusion: Experience is not just an activity but series of multiple activities. The serving range of a medical service should not be determined by stakeholders but user's holistic experience. By approaching a service design with a holistic vision, it can enrich not only a temporary experience but also a whole life well being. Application: Since there are already many service applications advising patients about their illness and finding right doctors, this service design is focused on the experience from getting a prescription till feeling better. The next move is to combine those two parts medical services and design an integrated service application. As a prescription is going to be coded in numbers, we might consider to design an un-attended pharmacy which can shorten huge amount of time for filling prescriptions.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제22권1호
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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.

• 의료법학
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.265-291
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• 2011

Changes in a drug's availability from prescription only to over-the-counter (OTC) status is of concern to physicians from both public health and individual patient perspectives. Government has generally been supportive of changes in medications from prescription(Rx) to over-the-counter (OTC) status in Korea, however, recognizing that there are both benefits and risks to any health care intervention, health care professionals are conservative in implementing changes to either the process or structure of health care. Changes in status of a drug from Rx to OTC can represent a change in both structure and process. Cost and convenience seem to be major factors in determining whether, given the choice, patients purchase a medicine over the counter or obtain it on prescription. With current arrangements, exemption from prescription charges provides an incentive to continue to obtain products on NHS prescription even when they are available over the counter. There is therefore no simple relation between the availability of over the counter medicines and the level of prescribing of deregulated products. The appropriate use of over the counter medicines-particularly those that have only recently been deregulated-places a burden of care on community pharmacists and calls for closer working relationships with general practitioners. In particular, systems for referral and for recording details of both prescribed and over the counter medicines need to be developed, and a direct route needs to be established for community pharmacists to report adverse drug reactions to over the counter products. Reclassification of prescription medicines-by making them available through pharmacies without a prescription-provides the opportunity for consumers to purchase a wider range of medicinal products without making a demand on NHS resources. There is, however, no simple relation between availability of over the counter medicines and demand for NHS prescriptions. In the late 1980s the UK government fuelled the over the counter market by making it easier to reclassify certain medicines from prescription only status to allow over the counter sale in pharmacies. To explore the influence of deregulation of medicines on NHS prescribing, this article presents analyses of consumer behaviour in using medicines and prescribers' attitudes to over the counter medication and collates findings from research. Policy makers should be aware that patients' expectations in relation to OTC medicines may be in conflict with evidence-based practice.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.24-32
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• 2016

Objective: The visually impaired have limited access to health care services and related information, and thus, they can have serious hurdles against properly taking medications. Despite that it is important to improve self-care ability of the visually impaired for correct medication use, there have been few studies investigating their needs for health care services in Korea, particularly focusing on proper medication usage. This study is to explore safety-related issues regarding mediation usage among the visually impaired based on in-depth interview. We particularly focus on any obstacles for safe use of medicines including experience on medication-related adverse effects in order to provide preliminary evidence for policy measures to improve proper medication use among the visually impaired. Methods: Study sample was visually impaired individuals who resided in Seoul area and were registered in the National Association of Visually Impaired. The association helped the process of recruiting the study participants. In-depth interview for each study participants was conducted. Each interview was recorded and later converted into a written script to extract core contents for the analysis. Results: The study participants comprised of three women (42.9%) and four men (57.1%). One was in his 20's, and there were four participants in 30's and two in 40's. Fully impaired participants were majority (5 out of 7). Limitation to physical access to health care providers and health information were the key factors to hamper safe medication utilization among the study participants. Difficulty reading medication information and may take the wrong medication or incorrect doses of medication, resulting in serious consequences, including overdose or inadequate treatment of health problems. Visually impaired patients report increased anxiety related to medication management and must rely on others to obtain necessary drug information. Pharmacists have a unique opportunity to pursue accurate medication adherence in this special population. This article reviews literature illustrating how severe medication mismanagement can occur in the visually impaired elderly and presents resources and solutions for pharmacists to take a larger role in adherence management in this population. Conclusion: The visually impaired had difficulties reading medication information and identifying medicines, and took incorrect doses of medications. Public support for safe medication use and medication management among the visually impaired is necessary.

• 약학회지
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• 제58권6호
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• pp.397-404
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• 2014

The Ministry of Health and Welfare proposed the "undergraduate program specializing in pharmaceutical industry" in 2013, as part of its roadmap to assist domestic pharmaceutical companies to become the top-tier pharma companies in near future and provide skilled personnel tailored for pharmaceutical industry. However, it is not clear whether this "undergraduate program" meets the needs of pharmaceutical industry, especially when the number of pharmacy students increased from 1,200 to 1,700 per year since 2009. The purpose of this paper is to identify which educational background is preferred by pharmaceutical companies, by surveying the CEOs of domestic pharmaceutical companies and referring to recruitment advertisements shown in medical newspapers, specified by the fields within the companies. Two independent reviewers referred to recruitment session in Yakup newspaper and Dailypharm from May 2012 until January 2014, focusing on recruitments from pharmaceutical companies targeting bachelors' degree holders with no prior experience. 749 recruitments were observed during the study period, more than 90% of which were provided by domestic pharmaceutical companies, and regardless of the companies being domestic or multinational, pharmaceutical companies' preference for pharmacists was remarkable (44.3% for domestic and 65.8% for multinational), and the preference was especially high in the fields such as Medical, R&D, Market Access (regulatory affair/pricing and reimbursement), Business Development, and Marketing. Survey results showed that the need of establishing the undergraduate program specializing in pharmaceutical industry is mixed, suggesting that although there is need for the educating personnel targeting pharmaceutical industry, the undergraduate program would not be an answer due to current PEET system. Our study concludes that in the example of pharmaceutical companies' recruitments shown in medical newspapers, pharmaceutical companies prefer pharmacy major in almost all fields of the pharmaceutical companies, yet the pharmaceutical companies still perceive the gap between current bachelor's degree holders(including pharmacy majors) and the ideal personnel required for advancing to the "top-class" pharmaceutical companies.

• 병원약사회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.409-417
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• 2018

Background : Febrile neutropenia (FN) is one of the side effects in the patients treated with chemotherapy, and the patients who have FN generally need immediate treatment with extended-spectrum antibiotics and hospitalization. Pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim, which are used for the prevention of FN as a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), have been granted insurance coverage in the Republic of Korea for certain breast cancer patients using doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) from September 2016. Methods : The data of the patients with breast cancer using AC regimen and G-CSF were collected retrospectively. This study involves cost-utility analysis of pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim. In this study, we constructed a simple decision tree model for short-term observation and calculated quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and the direct medical costs from the medical provider's perspective. Results : From September 2016 to May 2017, 15 patients were treated with pegfilgrastim and 15 patients were treated with pegteograstim. As a result of dividing the average cost by QALY for each treatment group, it was observed that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim were consumed 24,923,384 won and 22,808,336 won per 1QALY, respectively. Consequently, incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) showed 2,115,048 won more per pegfilgrastim than pegteograstim per 1QALY, and the cost per 1QALY of both the drugs was lower than 30,500,000 won; the Koreans were willing to pay this amount. Conclusions : This study suggests that pegfilgrastim and pegteograstim can be used to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing AC therapy. Among the two drugs, pegteograstim seems to be more cost-effective. However, since this study was conducted as a retrospective observation method on a small scale, it is associated with many limitations. Therefore, a long-term prospective cohort study is needed to supplement the present findings.

• 병원약사회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.391-399
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• 2018

Background : The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program promotes interdisciplinary interventions and targeted recommendations for the proper utilization of antibiotics. In particular, the aim of the program is to avoid indiscriminate use of broad-spectrum antibiotics based on the documented literature on the significant impact of unsystematic usage of antibiotics on the distribution of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. To improve the care process for pneumonia treatment using antimicrobial agents, institution-level guidelines were established and disseminated at the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in April 2016. In this study, we evaluated changes in the physicians'antibiotic prescribing patterns both before-and after-the implementation of the guidelines. Methods : The electronic medical records of inpatients who were prescribed with one or more antibiotics in May 2014 (Group A) and May 2016 (Group B) were reviewed. Data on demographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, and antibiotic prescriptions were collected and the prescription records were compared both before- and after- the implementation of the guidelines. Results : A total of 180 patients were included in the study: 77 patients in group A and 103 patients in group B. The baseline characteristics of the patients were not significantly different between the two groups. Community-acquired pneumonia was the most common diagnosis in both the groups and the difference was not significant (68.8% vs. 67.9%; p=0.67). The type of antibiotic prescriptions used for empirical treatment was not different between the two groups. The most commonly prescribed empirical antibiotics were cephalosporins, with no significant difference (p=0.31). One of the most inappropriately used antibiotics was piperacillin/tazobactam and the rate of prescription was similar in both the groups (p=0.68). The rates of appropriate empirical selection of antibiotics remained unaltered between the two groups (67.5% vs. 71.8%; p=0.53). Conclusions : Implementation of the guidelines only exhibited no significant effect on the antibiotic prescribing patterns of physicians for the treatment of pneumonia. To improve the adequate use of empiric antibiotics, more active interventions and closer monitoring of the feedbacks should be additionally considered and evaluated in future studies.

• 병원약사회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.453-462
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• 2018

Background : The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) tends to be higher in the elderly. Pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy (Peg-IFN/RBV) was recommended as the first-line treatment in the past decades, but this regimen showed unsatisfactory results in terms of safety and efficacy especially in elderly patients. Recently, it was demonstrated that dual therapy with daclatasvir and asunaprevir was well tolerated and led to high sustained virological response (SVR) rates, irrespective of age. We conducted a study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of daclatasvir plus asunaprevir by involving elderly patients aged above 65 years. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b patients treated with daclatasvir plus asunaprevir from September 2015 to December 2016 at Seoul St. Mary's hospital. The patients were divided into two groups as elderly patients (older than 65 years) and non-elderly patients (younger than 65 years) and compared the efficacy and safety. Results : A total of 112 patients were treated with daclatasvir plus asunaprevir for chronic hepatitis C. Among them, 101 patients completed the whole treatment, and in 88 patients the amount of HCV RNA was measured after 12 weeks of treatment. There was no significant difference in SVR at 12 weeks between both the groups (p=0.68). Typically, 91.4%(32/35) of elderly patients and 94.3%(50/53) of non-elderly patients achieved SVR12. Common adverse events included elevation in transaminase level, headache, and gastrointestinal disorders. There was no statistical difference in the symptoms between the two groups. Conclusions : The combination therapy with daclatasvir plus asunaprevir exhibited similar rates of SVR12 in HCV elderly patients without leading to further adverse events compared to non-elderly patients. Therefore, it is proposed that daclatasvir plus asunaprevir therapy could be considered as an effective and safe treatment, even in patients aged over 65 years.

• 문화기술의 융합
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.303-311
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• 2022

최근 COVID-19 이후 한시적 허용을 통해 증가하고 있는 비대면진료 플랫폼 기업에서 온라인 처방약 배송까지 함께 제공하는 경우가 증가하고 있어 이에 대한 기존 의약품공급자들의 우려가 커지는 가운데 적극적인 대응 움직임도 나타나고 있다. 본 연구에서는 게임이론의 시장 진입 저지 모형을 중심으로 기존 의약품공급자의 선제적 적극 대응이 성공적으로 시행될 수 있을 경우 온라인 의약품배송기업의 시장 진입을 억제할 수 있으나, COVID-19 이후 비대면진료의 한시적 허용에 따라 비대면진료 및 처방약 배송 플랫폼의 시장 진입이 효과적으로 이루어진 상황에서는 기존 의약품공급자의 수용적 대응이 보다 합리적인 선택이 될 수 있음을 보였다. 다만, 소비자 편이성 증대 방향의 소매 의약품유통시장 관련 제도 개선에 기존 의약품공급자들이 보다 전향적으로 협력할 수 있도록 온라인 처방약 배송 플랫폼 기업에 참여하는 약사들에 대해 일일 처방전 접수 건수에 상한선을 설정하는 방법, 의약품배송 약국 선택 시 기존 이용 약국 및 의료이용자의 거주지역 지역사회 약국이 우선 소개될 수 있도록 플랫폼 사용자 환경에 노출 방식 및 노출 시간 등을 조정하는 방안, 장기적으로 비대면진료 및 의약품배송 플랫폼 기업의 기업 공개 시 지역사회 약국 등이 자본 참여할 수 있는 방안 등이 고려될 필요가 있다.