• Title/Summary/Keyword: pharmacist

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Variations in Pharmacy Payment of Korea National Health Insurance and a New Taxonomy of Community Pharmacies (건강보험 약국 급여비 분석과 약국 유형화 연구)

  • Cheong, Chelim;Choi, Sang-Eun;Lee, Hwayoung;Kim, Jini
    • YAKHAK HOEJI
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    • v.57 no.1
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    • pp.63-69
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    • 2013
  • The objectives of the study are to investigate pharmacy remuneration levels stratified by the number of prescriptions dispensing and the type of nearby medical facilities using the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) database, and to classify community pharmacies based on the characteristics. Claims data of all community pharmacies were extracted from the Korean NHI database from January 1 to June 30, 2010. A total of 14,985 pharmacies were included for the analysis. The remuneration amounts per pharmacist were directly associated with the number of prescription dispensing, and varied by the type of nearby medical facilities where more than 90% of prescriptions dispensed at the pharmacy are issued from. We classified pharmacies to six groups according to the number of prescription dispensing and the type of nearby medical facilities; (1) pharmacies with equal to or less than 200 prescriptions per month per pharmacist, (2) pharmacies near a general hospital, (3) pharmacies near a regular hospital, (4) pharmacies near a clinic, (5) pharmacies near multi clinics, and (6) pharmacies that do not belong to the above types. Compared to pharmacies near a clinic or multi clinics, pharmacies near a general hospital showed a lower number of prescription dispensing per pharmacist, but the income from dispensing fees was higher (p<0.05). The new taxonomy of community pharmacies can be a useful basis for further policy development in pharmacy remuneration system.

A Study on the Priorities in the Roles of Community Pharmacists in Aged Society Using AHP (AHP를 이용한 고령사회 약국약사의 역할에 대한 우선순위 연구)

  • Kang, Eunjeong;Jang, Sunmee;Kil, Tae Soo
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.19 no.6
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    • pp.402-411
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    • 2019
  • This study aimed to identify priorities in community pharmacist's roles in aged society using Analytic Hierarchy Process. We developed a survey questionnaire for AHP, which consisted of 19 pharmacist's roles selected from the FIP/WHO guidelines. The AHP survey questionnaire was self-administered by 127 pharmacists. The results showed that pharmacists put medication therapy management at the highest priority, preparation, dispense, distribution of medication at the second priority, and efficient healthcare system at the lowest priority. Among the 19 roles, new roles such as monitoring of medication therapy results, team-based health care, and transitions of care obtained relatively high priority.

Relationship between the Series named OTC Products and Pharmacist's Professional Workloads in Community Pharmacy (지역약사의 시리즈형 OTC 약물에 대한 약사의 직능 수행에 대한 평가)

  • Kim, Jeong Eun;Lim, Sung Cil
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.226-233
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    • 2020
  • Background: Currently, the over-the-counter (OTC) drug market is flooded with series OTC products. The pharmacist must follow the OTC product's indication, given that the most critical role of a pharmacist is the right selection and recommendation of an OTC drug for a patient's symptoms in a dynamic pharmacy environment. Therefore, pharmacists must know each OTC product information precisely to avoid any ambiguity due to several OTC series brand names. Objective: We evaluated the risk and effectiveness of OTC series medicines. Methods: From December 5 to December 18, 2019, an online survey was conducted among 145 community pharmacists. Results: A total of 51.0% of pharmacists knew the difference between products named in a series and could explain it spontaneously. Only 0.7% of the pharmacists admitted to not knowing the difference between products named in a series. While 42.9% of pharmacists who owned a pharmacy opined that the OTC medicines named in a series have health benefits for patients, 50.0% of employee pharmacists admitted that they were rather confused because there are several OTC series medicines. In contrast, 69.2% of pharmacists who owned pharmacies and 72.2% of employee pharmacists admitted that OTC series drugs with names similar to popular OTC drugs sell better. Conclusion: While pharmacists had different opinions regarding OTC series drugs per employment status, they opined that OTC series are more helpful in pharmacy management than completely new brand names. Further studies in this regard are needed.

Perceptions on Pharmacy Students on Consumers' Demand for Transparent Dispensing Room in Community Pharmacies (지역약국 조제실 투명화 요구에 대한 약대생의 인식)

  • Na Hyun Kim;So Jeong Tae;Hyun Jin Kim;Hyun Soon Sohn
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.97-105
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    • 2023
  • Background: Dispensing of prescription drugs is the most important task for community pharmacists. However, the public's satisfaction with pharmacist services is not high, and distrust due to dispensing by unqualified person and/or under unsanitary conditions led to demands for transparent dispensing room (TDR) in pharmacies. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate how pharmacy students perceive pharmacists' credibility and professional ethics in conjunction with the TDR issue. Methods: A survey using 20-items questionnaire was conducted from July 12 to 20, 2019 in pharmacy students nationwide. Results: Among 218 respondents, 84.1% attended pharmacy school located in the metropolitan area, 61.1% were the 3rd or 4th graders, and 81.2% had no practical training in community pharmacy. 56.2% were unaware of the TDR issue, and 66.8% agreed on the public's demand for TDR. 68.8% disagreed that TDR was the best way to solve the problem of unqualified dispensing, while 51.9% agreed that TDR was the best way in solving unsanitary dispensing problem. Publics' confidence level of community pharmacists was mean 5.84 (range 1-10). In a question asking how expertise and professional ethics affect pharmacist confidence, 50% said expertise was more important, 31.7% the same, and 18.3% said professional ethics was more important. Conclusions: To overcome the demand for TDR which began with public distrust in pharmacists, it is necessary to seek measures to increase the credibility of pharmacists, and as part of this, pharmacist ethics should be systematically educated at pharmacy school.

Guideline of Improvement and Evaluation of Prescribing Errors in Colorectal Chemotherapy (대장암 항암 화학요법의 처방 오류 평가 및 개선안 제시)

  • Lim, Hyun-Soo;Lim, Sung Cil
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.158-166
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    • 2013
  • Background: Colorectal cancer shows a significant increase in South Korea due to westernization of diet, lack of dietary fiber, drinking and smoking, irregular defecation. There are surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy in treatment of colorectal cancer. There may be a medication errors in the process of chemotherapy because of its high toxicity, narrow therapeutic index and the health status of cancer patients. Consequently medication errors can cause increasing the risk of death, prolonging hospital stay and increasing the cost. Among medication errors on medication use process, prescribing errors are of particular concern due to higher risk of serious consequences. It is important for pharmacist to prevent the prescribing errors before reaching patient. Therefore we analyzed the prescriptions of colorectal cancer, classified prescribing errors, suggested guideline to reduce prescribing errors and verified the importance of pharmacist's role in prevention of medication errors activity. Methods: We collected the numbers of prescriptions of colorectal cancer(n=2,373) through anti cancer management program and EMR and analyzed the errors of prescriptions by categories from Oct 1st 2011 to Sep 30th 2012 at Chungbuk National University Hospital. We reviewed the prescriptions as follows - patients' characteristics, the result of test, previous prescriptions, characteristics of antineoplastic agents and patients' allergy, drug sensitivity, adverse events. Prescriptions are classified into inpatient and outpatient and analyzed the errors of prescriptions by categories (dosage form, dose, input, diluents, regimen, product). Results: Total prescription number of inpatient and outpatient of colorectal cancer was 1,193 and 1,180 and that of errors was 107(9%) and 22(1.9%), respectively. In case of errors of categories, the number of errors of dosage form is 69 and 8, errors of dose is 15 and 5, errors of input is 9 and 9 in inpatient and outpatient prescriptions, respectively. Errors of diluents is 8, errors of regimen is 3, errors of product is 3 in only inpatient prescriptions. In case of errors of categories by inpatient department, the number of errors of dosage form is 34 and 35, errors of dose is 7 and 8, errors of input is 6 and 3, errors of diluents is 4 and 4, errors of regimen is 2 and 1, errors of product is 2 and 1 in SG and HO, respectively. In case of outpatient department, the number of errors of dosage form is 8 in HO, errors of dose is 5 in HO, errors of input is 5 and 4 in SG and HO, respectively. Conclusions: The rate of errors of inpatient is higher than that of outpatient. Junior doctors are engaged in prescriptions of inpatient and pharmacist need to pay attention to review all prescriptions. If prescribing errors are discovered, pharmacist should contact the prescriber and correct the errors without delay. The guideline to reduce prescribing errors might be upgrading software of anti cancer management program, education for physicians as well as pharmacists and calling prescriber's attention to preventing recurrence of errors.

Effects of Medication Reconciliation and Cost Avoidance Analysis by Clinical Pharmacists in a Neurocritical Care Unit (뇌신경계 중환자실 전담 약사의 활동에 따른 약물 조정 효과 및 회피비용 분석)

  • Cho, Ui Sang;Song, Young Joo;Jung, Young Mi;Choi, Kyung Suk;Lee, Eunsook;Lee, Euni;Han, Moon-Ku
    • Journal of Neurocritical Care
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.110-118
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    • 2018
  • Background: The role of clinical pharmacists in medication therapy to improve clinical and economic outcomes has been reported in the literature. This study was conducted to analyze the changes in details of medication interventions before and after the introduction of clinical pharmacists into the care of neurocritical care unit (NCU) patients, and to evaluate the economic effects of clinical pharmacists by calculating the avoidance cost. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted reviewing the electronic medical records from June 2013 to May 2014 (before), and from June 2016 to May 2017 (after). We calculated the number and rates of intervention, the acceptance rates of it, and also reviewed the list of interventions. We calculated avoidance cost if there was no intervention. Results: The monthly mean number of interventions increased from 8.0 (${\pm}5.7$) to 31.7 (${\pm}12.8$) (P<0.001) and the frequency of intervention also increased from 0.8% to 1.6% (P=0.003). The most frequently provided pharmacist intervention was nutritional support before introduction of clinical pharmacists and discussions on the medication plan after. The number of classified interventions was 14 before introduction of clinical pharmacist services and 33 after. The calculated cost avoidance associated with a clinical pharmacists' integration was 77,990,615 won per year. Conclusion: Introduction of clinicals pharmacist into the NCU was associated with increased intervention rates and expanded types of clinical interventions. The cost avoidance achieved by the pharmacists' interventions can be further explored to evaluate if similar expansions of pharmacists' services achieve similar results in other settings.

Current Status of the Reimbursement for Pharmacist-provided Health Care Services in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom (국외 약사서비스 지불보상체계 현황 : 일본, 미국, 영국을 중심으로)

  • Park, Ji Hyun
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.712-728
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    • 2022
  • World-widely, there has never been a greater need for people to access high-quality expertise about the effective and safe use of medications. Therefore, the profession of pharmacy should meet these needs of the times, as the demographic shifts have led to a situation where older adults now outnumber children, and polypharmacy is also a commonplace. However, the reimbursement system covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) in Korea is still limited to the traditional dispensing and compounding role of pharmacist. To provide a take-home message to Korean pharmacy reimbursement system, we aimed to review and analyze the international trends in pharmacy remuneration systems. This is a comparative study between Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Comparison was conducted by reviewing each country's policy and enforcement programs, as well as the related literature. Japan, the UK and the US systems remunerate diverse patient-centered pharmaceutical care services. The Korean pharmacy service fee is, however, narrowly focused on the traditional product-oriented pharmacy services. This study discussed the future direction of improving pharmacist reimbursement systems in Korea, by expanding professional pharmacy service coverage and diversifying fee schedule.

Clinical pharmacist services in general wards and perception and expectation of healthcare providers towards the services at a tertiary healthcare center (상급종합병원 병동담당약사 업무 현황 및 의료인의 인식과 기대 분석)

  • Kim, Jeongun;Baek, Sijin;Choi, Nayae;Jeon, Sujeong;Namgung, Hyung Wook;Lee, Junghwa;Lee, Euni;Lee, Ju-Yeun
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.20-26
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    • 2022
  • Background and objective: The Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) implemented ward-based clinical pharmacy system with designated pharmacists in 10 general wards. Designated pharmacists conduct inpatient medication review, medication intervention, and medication consultation, and provide drug information for health care providers. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical pharmacy services and to examine the perception and expectations of health care providers on the services provided by the designated pharmacists in general wards. Methods: A survey was constructed to include questions on the health care providers' recognition, satisfaction, and perceived needs of designated pharmacists. We determined the frequency and type of interventions of ward pharmacist and their acceptance rate through a retrospective observational study using electronic medical records. Results: A total of 59 health care providers responded the questionnaire and 79.7% of the respondents reported moderate to high levels of satisfaction. Satisfaction with the services was positively associated with clinical interventions and nutrition support team (81.4%). Of 59 respondents, 88.1% agreed that preventing drug-related problems by designated pharmacists' activities were effective. The most common interventions included inadequate dosage (27.4%), omission and additional prescription (14.6%) and inadequate drug form (9.6%). The acceptance rate of intervention was 91.5%, and 151 potentially serious risks and 523 significant risks were prevented by the intervention. Conclusion: Positive results were confirmed in the awareness, satisfaction, and perceived needs of the health care providers for designated pharmacists. Expansion of the ward-based clinical pharmacy system with designated pharmacists to other wards may be considered.

Evaluation of Scopolamine Patch Pharmacotherapy for Motion Sickness in S. Korean

  • Lim, Sung-Cil;Lee, Myung-Koo;Lee, Chong-Kil;Lee, Bo-Reum
    • Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.161-167
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    • 2008
  • Scopolamine patch is an effective anticholinergic and antiemetic agent for motion sickness in S. Korea. Since this medication is Over The Counter (OTC) medication and may cause serious side effects when misused. Therefore, we evaluate the safety and efficacy for scopolamine patch in this study. We selected and surveyed total 43 patients who purchased scopolamine patch from three different pharmacies located at S and C Express Bus terminals and P Port at Seoul, Cheongju, and Busan. In the result, 11 patients (8${\sim}$15 year old:25.6%) were correctly used scopolamine patch with a children dose and 2 patients were misused. 26 (15${\sim}$60 year old: 60.4%) and 4 (over 6o year old: 9.3%) patients were correctly used with a adult dose. 33 patients (69.9%)answered that they knew the directions well how to use scopolamine patch correctly. Only 24.2% (n=8) patients learned the directions by pharmacist's consultation. Most patients (45 frequencies with duplicate counts) had some experienced side effects and among those drowsiness is the most common one. In conclusion, scopolamine patch as a non-prescription drug (OTC) should be monitored by pharmacist with correct drug consultation.