• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.228-237
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• 2017

Objective: We conducted a survey to understand the current state of pharmacy services and pharmacists' thoughts in the future of the community pharmacy setting. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 229 pharmacists and gathered from 95 respondents. Results: We asked to pharmacists about what the ideal pharmacy duty should be in the next 10 years at the community pharmacy setting in Korea. For this question, the respondents said drug counselling (19.4%), dispensing (13.8%), long-term care of chronic disease and healthcare education (12.8%), and OTC counselling (11.5%). When asked about how much time they were spending doing certain tasks in the pharmacy, the main tasks were dispensing (23.5%), counselling (17.1%), prescription review (10.1%), and OTC counselling (5.5%). When asked about what the most important duty of a pharmacist was, medication counselling (45.4%) was the most important task that they identified and the reasons for not being able to fulfill this role properly was time shortage (78.9%) followed by the lack of counselling spaces, up-to-date knowledges, and focus on financial gains over patient counselling. Conclusion: Korean pharmacists are mainly focusing on dispensing in their daily work. Their basic responsibilities can be easily mechanized over the next few years, but the social expectations of disease-prevention and public health promotion both in current and future can not be replaced by such mechanical measures. Therefore, pharmaceutical services in Korea should be developed in more diverse and professional ways.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.500-509
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• 2011

This study was to identify factors influencing drug compliance based on the subjects' interview regarding community pharmacy utilization for 2 weeks, in 2005 KNHANES. Good compliance was regarded as important factors in improving the effectiveness and minimizing adverse drug reaction, resulting in reducing the medical costs. 83% of total 11,208 pharmacy visits in 7,066 subjects showed good compliance. Good satisfaction for pharmacist's medication counseling (OR=2.23, 95% CI 1.92-2.58), higher out-of-pocket money (OR=1.32, 95% CI 1.14-1.54), and users of prescription drugs than non-prescription (OR=2.21, 95% CI 1.91-2.57) drugs were significant factors for better compliance. Disease of nervous system and mental and behavioral disorders showed lower drug compliance.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate the best way that health functional food contributes the diversification of pharmacy management at the new point after the separation of prescribing and dispensing practice. In the question of the number of prescription paper, it was more than 200 papers (18.9%), next 100 papers (11.3%). In case of daily total sales volume except prescription fee, it was more than 1,000,000won (28.3%). About the motivation using health functional food, the reason for activation of pharmacy management was 66%. The selling method was mainly by pharmacist recommendation and consumer's need. In comparison with after and before the separation of prescribing and dispensing, more than 60% of subjects answered that sales volume was decreased and no changed. Concerning the ratio of total sales volume to health functional food within 5 years, 66% of subjects expected that it will be increased positively. The type of best pharmacy to handle health functional food was community pharmacy. These results suggest that the handling of health functional food by pharmacist will greatly increase in near futures and will be very important portion for pharmacy management.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.378-386
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• 2014

Topical agents including of steroids are easily exposed to Korean patients in community setting. Those topical agents must be use cautiously because can cause adverse drug reaction unlike other oral medication. We evaluate the using pattern topical agents of Korean in community setting. We performed a questionnaire survey in three different pharmacies (general community pharmacy, dermatology clinic oriented pharmacy, general hospital oriented pharmacy) and in three university town. The survey asked necessity of topical agents, the number of applications per day, application period, site, and exist of steroids ingredient, etc. Total 330 people was participated in the survey from May 1st to July 31st, 2014. We analysed the survey by the frequency of each question and cross-analysis of the compliance between general public and pharmacy groups. In results, Korean people used topical agents for sudden skin diseases (66.9%), was gotten by dermatologist's prescription (89.1%), and did not know their diagnosis (39.2%). The people applied topical agents on face (22.3%), less one half FTU (finger tip unit) per application (61.9%), less than one week (62.9%). Though they was received drug education from pharmacist (52.2%), did not heard about adverse effects (78.4%). And compliance of applied times in pharmacy group was higher than in-non-pharmacy group (56% vs 38%, p=0.002). The highest compliance between 3 pharmacy subgroup was general community pharmacy (76.3% vs 61.6%, 61.2%, p=0.039). Compliance of applied duration was no difference between groups. Majority of respondents did not know diversity of ingredients, potency, application area of topical steroids, and replied to feel some vague reluctance and to think so dangerous about topical steroids. In conclusion, Korean people in community use topical agents well but still some exposed to risk from topical agents.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2024

Background: Drug-related problems have the potential to threaten patient health, and pharmacists are in a position to prevent such problems through prescription reviews and patient counseling, actively engaging in pharmaceutical care activities. This study aims to categorize and analyze the intervention activities of pharmacists in community pharmacies concerning drug-related problems, following international criteria. Methods: Over a six-month period, prescription interventions completed in a community pharmacy in Seoul were selected as the research subjects. The causes of interventions were classified according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) drug-related problems (DRPs) classification system and the types and frequencies of DRPs were identified. Results: Among a total of 49,334 prescriptions, 527 interventions were completed, constituting approximately 1.07% of the daily average filled prescriptions. Individuals over 60 years of age represented more than 50%. The primary cause of DRPs was prescribing and drug selection issues, comprising 256 cases (48.58%), with specific subcategories including 109 cases of drug selection, 79 cases of treatment duration errors, 47 cases of dose selection, and 21 cases of inappropriate dosage form selection. Patient-related issues accounted for 204 cases (38.71%). Conclusion: The study demonstrated that the pharmacists' intervention in community pharmacies contributes to the safe use of medication by patients.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.469-475
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• 2007

The aim of this study is to find problems and possible improvement for current continuing education (CE) of pharmacists by assessing present status and performing survey data analysis. Present CE for pharmacists is administered by Korean Pharmaceutical Association and it has three separate modules for pharmacists depending on their specialty. The modules for community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy are mainly focused on patient care while the module for industrial pharmacists is on manufacturing and distribution of drugs. Survey data analysis revealed that more than half of the responders feel that present CE is inappropriate in terms of length and contents of the CE. Furthermore, about 40% of all responders answered it does not help them update professional knowledge. With regard to possible improvement of CE, 86% of the responders felt an accreditation council of CE needs to be established, and 64% answered that present three separate modules should be unified. More than three quarter (79%) of the responders wanted to have some part of CE administered by correspondence instead of on-site CE. Based on the findings from this study, present CE for pharmacists appears to need improvement to ensure appropriate drug use and to meet expectations of pharmacists who see problems on the present CE.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2011

Generic medication market has been increased for economic reasons in Korea. Health authorities worldwide recommend the use of generic medications nowadays. However, patients in Korea are not familiar with the generic medications and considerable percent of those do not know the definition of the generic medications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate adults' knowledge and perception on the generic medications at community pharmacies in Korea. This study was a 11-questionnaire survey conducted from August 9, 2010 to August 27, 2010. Of the 204 respondents, 63 (30.9%) responded that they knew what a generic medication was, but only 16 (25.4%) of those answered that generic medications had the same efficacy as brand medications. When pharmacists were the source of generic medication information, more patients reported having knowledge about the definition of generic medications correctly compared with other sources. Patients with negative experience with generic medications within 6 months were more reluctant to generic substitution suggested by a pharmacist than those with positive experience. Based on the results of this study, further studies should be conducted to establish the best way to provide generic medication information for patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to evaluate barriers to pharmacists' routine work in community setting. A survey was given to 281 pharmacists who enrolled in 16-week clinical pharmacy educating program in continuous education center for advanced pharmacy at Seoul National University. Three main questions that pharmacists were asked to answer were: (1) difficulties on dispensing prescription, (2) difficulties on communicating with doctors, (3) most difficult disease on patients counseling. The response rates for the survey were more than 60 % for each three questions (62.63 %, 63.7 %, and 64.41 %, respectively). The top three barriers to dispensing prescription were lack of professional knowledge about medications, prescription error and its solving ability and patient counseling. The top three barriers to communicating with doctors were lacking of opportunity to discuss about patients' medication due to unavailability of doctors, doctors' attitude using authoritative manner, and a pharmacist's lack of knowledge. The top 4 most difficult diseases on patients counseling were cardiovascular disorders, dermatologic disorders, endocrinologic disorders, and psychiatric disorders.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.280-291
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• 2011

Vaccines are products for immunization which can provoke antibodies by eliciting immune reponses without causing disease and have played an important role in preventing fatal and contagious diseases as well as H1N1 influenza. They are classified by two following categories; lived attenuated vaccine and killed vaccine and currently commonly using vaccines are BCG, diphtheria, tetanus, mumps, measles, rubella, polio, Haemophilus influenza type b, hepatitis B, influenza etc. All vaccines must be used correctly to reach optimal therapeutic goals and also informed well to patients to decrease potential problems. In order to do, pharmacists must have good knowledge of vaccines. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the necessity of vaccine education for pharmacists and develop a vaccine leaflet for patient counseling. We have performed a survey with questionnaire for a total of 176 pharmacists and nurses(hospital pharmacists, n=65; community pharmacists, n=50; hospital nurses, n=61) from January 27th to March 12th, 2010. The questionnaire includes items about vaccine education and counseling and 12 quizzes to evaluate responders' knowledge of vaccines. We used the SPSS(Version 12. for windows) program to analyze the data. In results, 94.9% of all responders said they had not been educated on vaccines. And only 1.1% of all responders said they know about vaccines enough to counsel patients. Pharmacists who have an experience recommending vaccines to other people are 21.7%. On the other hand, nurses who have an experience recommending vaccines to other people are 55.7%(p=0.000). The mean number of correct answers at the 12 quizzes are followings; hospital pharmacist, 8.1; community pharmacist, 6.1, hospital nurses, 6.2(p=0.000). A vaccine leaflet for patient counseling is developed with several references. In conclusion, due to no opportunity of vaccine education, pharmacists have no confidence to counsel patients and lack of knowledge of vaccine. But importance of vaccine's role is increasing, pharmacists should counsel patients in vaccination. So they need vaccine education and a vaccine leaflet will be helpful for their counseling.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4427-4430
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• 2012

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among women in Malaysia. Despite the campaigns undertaken to raise the awareness of the public regarding breast cancer, breast cancer screening rates are still low in the country. The community pharmacist, as one of the most accessible healthcare practitioners, could play a role in the provision of breast cancer health promotion services to the community. However, there are no documented data regarding the community pharmacists' involvement in breast cancer related health promotion activities. Hence, this study was conducted to examine self-reported knowledge, practice and perception of community pharmacists on provision of breast cancer health promotion services and to investigate the barriers that limit their involvement. This cross-sectional survey conducted between May to September 2010, included a sample of 35 community pharmacists working in the districts of Hulu Langat and Sepang in state of Selangor. A 22-item validated questionnaire that included both closed and Lickert scale questions was used to interview those pharmacists who gave their informed consent to participate in the study. The data was analysed using SPSS. Only 11.3% of the community pharmacists answered all the questions on the knowledge section correctly. The mean overall knowledge of the community pharmacists on risk factors of breast cancer and screening recommendations is 56%. None of the respondents was currently involved in breast cancer health promotion activities. Lack of time (80%), lack of breast cancer educational materials (77.1%) and lack of training (62.9%) were the top three mentioned barriers. Despite these barriers, 94.3% (33) of the community pharmacists agreed that they should be involved in breast cancer health promotion activities. Hence, there is need to equip community pharmacists with necessary training and knowledge to enable them to contribute their share towards prevention and screening of breast cancer.