Infection is one of the main causes of death in severe burn cases. Treatment of burn patient includes fluid therapy, wound care, complication care and antibiotic therapy for infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of burn patients, the type of isolated microorganisms and their susceptibility, and the systemic antibiotics used. This is a retrospective study of 126 burn patients treated in the Hanil General Hospital from January to December 2001. Total 126 patients were assessed with 103 males and 23 females (4.5:1). The average age was $34.8\pm17.6$ years and extent of burn $(TBSA\;\%)\;was\;24.5\pm18.5\%$. The burn was caused by electric accident $(47.6\%),\;flame\;(29.4\%),\;scalding\;(21.4\%),\;and\;chemical\;accident\;(1.6\%)$. The overall mortality rate was $7.14\%$ (9/126) and all expired patients were males. The average age (n=9) was $48.8\pm15.6$ yrs and the extent of burn was $65.0\pm19.0\%$. The causes of death were due to flame burns $(13.5\%)$ and electric burns $(6.7\%)$. The culture sites of the isolated microorganisms were wound $(85.3\%),\;sputum\;(9.3\%),\;urine\;(2.7\%),\;blood\;(1.3\%)\;and\;catheter\;tip\;(1.3\%)$. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most commonly isolated organism $(35\%)$, followed by Staphylococcus aureus $(30.1\%)$, Acinetobacter baumannii $(21.4\%)$, and Enterococcus spp. $(3.9\%)$. The number of systemic antibiotics administered was 4.5. The classes of the antibiotics were cephalosporines $(38.5\%)$, aminoglycosides $(31\%)$, quinolones $(13.3\%)$, penicillins $(12.4\%)$, carbapenems $(2.4\%)$, glycopeptides $(1.9\%)$ and others $(0.6\%)$. In conclusion, most of burn patients had wound infection and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most commonly isolated organism. Cephalosporins were administered the most frequently among antibiotics.

Prophylactic antibiotics in acute nonperforated appendicitis have been used for preventing infection after appendectomy. However, duration of antibiotic administration for surgical prophylaxis in Korea has been noted to be longer than those recommended in other countries. The objective of this study was to identify appropriate duration of prophylactic antibiotics in acute nonperforated appendicitis by comparing two different antibiotic regimens for their wound infection rates. Eighty-four acute nonperforated appendicitis patients were enrolled in this prospective, randomized, open trial and were assigned to one of two antibiotic regimens: cefoxitin 1 g every 8 hours given intravenously for 24hours or cefoxitin 1 g every 8 hours given intravenously plus sisomicin 75 mg every 12 hours given jntramuscularly for 72 hours. First doses were given just prior to the induction of anesthesia. Postoperative wound infections were detected in $4.8\%$ of the 72-hour-treated group (n=42), whereas none occurred in the 24-hour-treated group (n=42). However, the difference in the rates of wound infections between two groups was not statistically significant. The most frequently isolated microorganism from appendiceal tissues was E coli. In conclusion, administration of cefoxitin alone for 24 hours is sufficient as surgical prophylaxis in nonperforated appendicitis.

This study was carried out to compare the bioavailability of $Ceclex^{(R)}$ (test drug, cefaclor 250 mg/capsule) with that of $Ceclor^{(R)}$ (reference drug) and to estimate the pharmacokinetic parameters of cefaclor in healthy Korean adult. The bioavailability was examined on 20 healthy volunteers who received a single dose (250 mg) of each drug in the fasting state in a randomized balanced 2-way crossover design. After dosing, blood samples were collected for a period of 6hours. Plasma concentrations of cefaclor were determined using HPLC with UV detection. The pharmacokinetic parameters $(AUC_{0-6hr},\;C_{max},\;T_{max},\;AUC_{int},\;K_e,\;t_{1/2},\;Vd)$ F, and CL/F) were calculated with non-compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. The ANOVA test was utilized for the statistical analysis of the $T_{max},\;log-transformed\;AUC_{0-6hr}\;log-transformed\;C_{max},\;t_{l/2},\;V_d/F$, and CL/F. The ratios of geometric means of AUC0-6hr and $C_{max}$ between test drug and reference drug were $103.2\%\;(6.74\;{\mu}g{\cdot}hr/ml\;vs\;6.53{\pm}g{\cdot}hr/ml)\;and\;100.4\%\;(4.85\;{\mu}g\ml\;vs\;4.82\;{\mu}g/ml)$, respectively. The $T_{max}$ of test drug and reference drug were $0.9\pm0.38\;hr\;and\;0.83\pm0.34$ hrs, respectively. The $90\%$ confidence intervals of mean difference of logarithmic transformed $AUC_{0-6h},\;and\;C_{max}$ were log $0.98{\sim}log$ 1.08 and log $0.88{\sim}log1.15$, respectively. It shows that the bioavailability of test drug is equivalent with that of reference drug. The estimated half-life of this study was longer $(1.21\pm0.27\;hrs\;vs\;0.5-1\;hr)$, the Vd/F was larger $(68.89\pm25.72L$ vs 24.9L), and the CL/F was higher $(38.62\pm7.09\;L/hr$ vs 24.9 L/hr) than the previously reported values.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patient education provided by the pharmacist for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in the hospital. One time patient medication teaching including verbal instruction and written materials were provided by a pharmacist for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy on the first or second day of hospitalization. After providing medication teaching by a pharmacist a written survey was performed in order to measure the patient's satisfaction with the medication teaching and to evaluate the effectiveness of the patient medication teaching. This one-time patient medication teaching by a pharmacist was provided for 44 solid and hematological cancer patients (23 male, 21 female). The results of 27 written surveys completed by the cancer patients revealed that almost all cancer patients $(96.3\%)$ felt that medication teaching is a must in order to understand and accept the chemotherapy by cancer patients. In addition, almost all patients $(92.6\%)$ stated that they were extremely satisfied with the medication teaching provided by the pharmacist. The levels of understandings on the chemotherapy.

The aim of this study was to examine the current turnover status of hospital pharmacists and to analyze the factors which affected the turnover of them after the separation of prescribing and dispensing practice. We surveyed 19 managers of hospital pharmacies and 154 hospital pharmacists. Results are as follows. Pharmacist manpower of hospital pharmacies was only $63.99\%$ in tertiary hospitals and $76.78\%$ in general hospitals respectively of the number of pharmacists before the separation of prescription and dispensing practice. The ratio of those who left hospital pharmacies during the period of January 2000 and October 2001 was $80.23\%$ for tertiary hospitals, and $100.84\%$ for general hospitals. Decrease in the number of pharmacists brought the increase of work load and night duty. Major factors which affected the turnover of hospital pharmacists were found as following: income gap between hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists, increasing workload especially at night and on holidays, infrequent chance for the promotion, and low chance to provide clinical pharmacy services after the separation of prescribing and dispensing practice. Adequate manpower is the basic factor for providing hospital pharmacy services and improving clinical pharmacy services. The study suggested that proper number of hospital pharmacists is to be ensured through strengthening the legal requirement for the hospital pharmacists and improving health insurance reimbursement rate for the pharmaceutical services at hospital.

The pharmacokinetics of intravenous paclitaxel (1 mg/kg) were investigated in rabbits with renal failure induced by folic acid. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to time infinity (AUC) of paclitaxel was significantly (p<0.05) greater in rabbits with severe renal failure induced by folic acid $(1030\pm382)$ compared to that in rabbits with in moderate renal failure induced by folic acid $(780\pm209\;ng/ml{\cdot}hr)$. The apparent volume of distribution (Vd) $(0.008\pm0.002\;L/kg)$ and the elimination rate constant $(\beta)\;(0.09\pm0.025\;hr^{-1})$ of paclitaxel in rabbits with severe renal failure were significantly (p<0.05) smaller and slower respectively than those of control rabbits $(0.016\pm0.004\;L/kg,\;0.12\pm0.03\;hr^{-1})$, but not significantly different compared with that in rabbits with moderate renal failure $(0.010\pm0.003\;L/kg,\;0.10\pm0.026\;hr^{-1})$. total body clearance (CL) of paclitaxel in rabbits with severe renal failure $(0.97\pm0.183\;L/hr/kg)$ was significantly (p<0.05) slower than that in control rabbits $(1.68\pm0.440\;L/hr/kg)$, but not significantly different compared with that in rabbits with in moderate renal failure $(1.28\pm0.311\;L/hr/kg)$. The terminal half-life ($t_{1/2}$) of paclitaxel in rabbits with severe renal failure $(7.46\pm2.16\;hr)$ was significantly (p<0.05) longer than that in control rabbits $(5.75\pm1.44\;hr)$, but not significantly different compared to that in rabbits with moderate renal failure rabbits $(6.67\pm1.76\;hr)$. The above data could be at least partly decrease in due to paclitaxel excretion in rabbits with renal failure, since $7-15\%$ of interavenous paclitaxel was excreted via kidney as unchanged forms plus its metablites.