• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.405-412
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• 2014

The history of pharmaceutical service system in Korea originated from the beginning of Korean people was reviewed with focus on the pharmaceutical administration and laws after the Liberation from Japan in 1945.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

The prevalence of diabetes and its related morbidity and mortality are being increased. Despite the advancement of evidence-based pharmacotherapy in the management of diabetes, many patients in our country do not achieve satisfied therapeutic outcomes. Pharmaceutical care service can be defined as a patient-centered clinical service provided by pharmacists to improve therapeutic outcomes and quality of life of patients, by identifying, and preventing or resolving drug-related problems (DRPs). Pharmaceutical care service is interdisciplinary team-based practice, and is provided through collaborative practice agreement (CPA) between one or more physicians and pharmacists. This article describes a model of pharmaceutical care service which can be adopted in our country for patients with diabetes in the ambulatory care settings. With the successful implementation of this service, clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes of patients will be improved. Therefore, by actively implementing pharmaceutical care service, pharmacist should contribute to the promotion of patients' health and to the advancement of health care delivery system.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2019

Background: Although the importance of pharmaceutical care service has been growing to meet the needs of customers with the improvement of clinical and humanistic outcomes, there was not a systematic strategy to promote research in Korea. The aim of this study was to suggest the core agendas for pharmaceutical care services research and development (R&D) considering priorities. Methods: Based on desk researches, we developed R&D agendas for the needs of improving pharmaceutical care services in the area of institution, community, and public health. To determine the priority of agendas in developing pharmaceutical care service, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis was performed by the 14 experts. Criteria and subcriteria were assessed for significance by pairwise comparisons. Then, agendas were evaluated for importance according to each subcriteria, and rank ordered considering the weight calculated by multiplying the importance scores of the criteria and the subcriteria. Results: We derived 25 agendas including 13 for institutional pharmaceutical care service, 8 for community pharmaceutical care service, and 4 for public-health related pharmaceutical care service. AHP model was constructed based on 4 criteria and 8 subcriteria by a hierarchical structure. From the AHP survey, the 'Development of pharmaceutical care service for metabolic and chronic disease' agenda accounted for the highest priority. Conclusion: We have developed the R&D agendas of the pharmaceutical care service which should be promoted. The results should be utilized by the government to nationally support the development of the standards and relevant regulations related to pharmaceutical care services in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.272-281
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• 2014

Objective: The provision of pharmaceutical care service in compliance with good pharmacy practice (GPP) standards is important, but there is lack of studies to investigate the barriers that significantly hinder community pharmacies in Korea from adhering to the standards. This study was aimed to identify the major barriers to provision of pharmaceutical care service in compliance with the proposed pharmacy practice standards which have been developed based on the GPP standards recommended jointly by WHO and FIP. Methods: Questionnaires reviewed by the expert committee were posted for 32 days on the website which is most frequently accessed by community pharmacists. The respondents completed them by checking the scores (Max=5, Min=1) for major barriers to provision of pharmaceutical care service focusing on patient information management and drug use review process in prescription fillings. The answered scores were automatically collected using online data processing. Mean differences between scored data were assessed by ANOVA. Results: Total 321 pharmacists participated in the survey. Results indicated that 'difficulty of diagnosis identification' (m=3.92, SD=1.21), 'lack of time' (m=3.48, SD=1.22) and 'lack of updated clinical information' (m=3.17, SD=1.10) were the major barriers to provision of pharmaceutical care service in patient information management. The main barriers to drug utilization review were 'lack of time' (m=3.32, SD=1.21), 'lack of updated clinical information' (m=3.11, SD=1.17), and 'negative feedbacks or refusals from prescribers' (m=3.00, SD=1.38). There were significant differences among the groups by location, employed number of pharmacists and acceptability to the proposed GPP standards. Conclusion: Difficulties in managing patient clinical information and lack of time were found to be the major barriers in providing pharmaceutical care services in community pharmacies in Korea. Further research is recommended to determine ways to reduce these barriers in order to provide quality pharmaceutical care service that is in compliance with the internationally recognized GPP guidelines.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.282-287
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• 2014

Objective: Objective of this study was to investigate community pharmacy-based pharmaceutical care accessibility in Korea. Survey on the current pharmaceutical care service provision was performed by PM2000 XE, a real-time pharmacy manager program, operated by Korea Pharmaceutical Information Center beginning November 4, 2013 until December 6, 2013 towards all community pharmacies throughout the nation which use the program. Method: The survey questionnaire consisted of four sections: pharmacy type, time-based accessibility, item-based accessibility, and spatial accessibility for non-prescription drugs. Results: Number of pharmacy responded to the survey was 331, and size of the responding pharmacy was mostly medium-scale (66.47%) with 30-99 prescription fillings a day. Proportion of pharmacy with opening hour of 12 hours or longer was only 53.77% and it was less than 25% during saturdays and holidays. Item-based accessibility was generally acceptable for prescription and non-prescription drugs, medical devices, and health supplements. However, spatial accessibility for non-prescription drugs was problematic because only one quarter of the drugs was displayed over the counter, and most of the drugs were behind the counter so that customers could not reach out. Conclusion: Based on the survey result, current situation for accessibility of pharmaceutical care service in Korea is concluded inadequate and therefore needs multidimensional efforts to improve accessibility of the service at national level such as Korea Pharmaceutical Association and Ministry of Health and Welfare.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.105-114
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• 2019

Objectives: This study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the service quality of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), along with the utilization of and customer satisfaction with its export supporting program, and the export performance of Korean pharmaceutical companies. Methods: An online and offline survey was conducted on Korean pharmaceutical companies that have used the export supporting program provided by KHIDI. Data on the service quality of KHIDI, utilization of and customer satisfaction with the export supporting program, and company export performance were collected via survey. Results: Results indicated that systemizing and reliability service factors of the export supporting program have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction has a significant impact on utilization of the export supporting program. Furthermore, customer satisfaction and utilization of the program have a significant impact on company expectations regarding future export performance. Conclusions: As a result, service quality, utilization, and customer satisfaction were found to affect Korean pharmaceutical company's expectations regarding their future export performance. The results of this study can significantly impact the development of export supporting programs.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2015

Background: The recent change in pharmaceutical education system following the paradigm shift to patient-oriented pharmacy service requires an in-depth discussion to reorganize a future direction and establish a basis for maximizing social values of community pharmacy service. Objective: This study was conducted to review the current status of community pharmacy service provision in Korea based on published literatures. Methods: The electronic databases of National Digital Science Library and Electronic National Assembly Library were used to search the journal articles and dissertation papers. A search term "community pharmacy" was used and the published period was limited to papers published after year 2001, when the legal separation of prescribing and dispensing was implemented. Relevant study reports were also searched manually. Information about pharmacy service provision and study outcomes were retrieved from the selected papers, and classified by predefined individual service scope. Results: A total 33 papers reporting services provided by community pharmacies were selected (journal article 11, dissertation paper 17, and study report 5). Pharmacy services identified in these papers could be classified into prescription dispensing service, pharmaceutical care service, self medication service, other products service, and health promotion service. Twenty papers reported prescription dispensing services, three papers reported pharmaceutical care service, and only two papers reported health promotion service. Current community pharmacy services are highly dependent on prescription drugs while expanded services such as pharmaceutical care and health promotion are peripheral. Most prevalent research topic was medication counseling service (18 papers), reflecting that community pharmacists generally consider it to be the most important and fundamental service. Overall, current pharmacy services are very limited and focus on prescription dispensing service. Conclusion: At this point of time requiring expansion and quality improvement of community pharmacy services, we suggest further lively discussion to strengthen pharmacist's functional identity and set conditions for providing socially expected services.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 1993

Hospital pharmacy services are divided into dispensing affairs for inpatients and outpatients, pharmaceutical service, stock control, intravenous admixture service, drug information service, pharmacokinetic consultation service, education and research work, etc. But among those affairs, dispensing affair for outpatient is perceived as the most important work in Korea, because it is linked directly with hospital service for patients. Therefore, total computer system for dispensing area was adopted from opening point of hospital in 1989 in Asan Medical Center. Utilization of computer system for outpatient dispensing area is as follows; 1) Order communication system of prescription by Total Hospital Information System, 2) Automatic print-out system of direction for use by sticker connected with on-line net work, 3) Use of automatic tablet counting and packaging machines connected with on-line net work. Those computer system resulted in curtailment of pharmacy manpower and shortening of waiting-time for outpatient.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2015

Background: In order to achieve the goals of community pharmacy practice, its legal, labour-related, and economic barriers need to be identified. This study examined pharmacists' perceptions of constraints on providing optimal pharmacy services in order to identify underlying factors and analyse the associations between barriers and pharmaceutical services in community pharmacies. Methods: A survey targeting pharmacy owners was conducted from May to June 2012 using a structured questionnaire including nine pharmaceutical service items. According to the service provision level, we classified pharmacists as inactive (fewer than 5 items among the listed 9 service items) and active providers (5 or more items). Principal component analysis was used to group significant factors for barriers into four thematic components. Associations between the participants' demographics and pharmacy characteristics and the services provided were explored by logistic regression analyses. Results: Participants were 402 pharmacists. Over 60% provided disease management services for hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidaemia. Variables that affected pharmaceutical services included the lack of separate areas for patient counselling (OR: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.18-3.80), and clinical knowledge and information-related barriers (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.36-0.97). Conclusion: Strategies for improving clinical knowledge and providing expeditious information are necessary in order to improve community pharmacy services.