• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2018

Objective: An automated process for medication preparation and dispensing is essential to improve the quality of work. To reduce night pharmacy workload, a new automated dispensing cabinet system was implemented in a hospital emergency medical center. The purpose of this study is to verify that implementation of an automated dispensing cabinet system will influence the efficiency of night pharmacy work. Methods: To evaluate the new system implementation, a retrospective study and survey was performed in the Ewha Womans University medical center. We compared the dispensing and near-miss error rates between the automated dispensing cabinet system and a night pharmacy. The degree of satisfaction of night shift workers with the new system was surveyed. Results: This study showed significantly reduced dispensing rates of night medications (56.1% and 37.3%; p < 0.01) and near-miss night medications (0.27% and 0.17%; p<0.01). Thirty-two persons responded to the survey, and the satisfaction score for the new system was 4.0 (${\pm}0.8$). The scores were high in order of efficiency, management, and convenience. Time requirement was also reduced because of the simple step of only reviewing in the pharmacy with the new system. Conclusion: Due to system implementation, workload was reduced and time was saved for not only night shift workers but also patients receiving emergency discharge medicine. It was suggested that this will have a positive effect on pharmacist medical service and patient safety.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.250-253
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• 2018

When stenting is applied to treat myocardial infarction, antiplatelet agents are administered to prevent thrombosis, which increases the risk of bleeding. Patients with myocardial infarction are also more likely to have osteoarthritis simultaneously, because both diseases occur frequently in elderly patients. Patients with osteoarthritis often use analgesics, especially nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); hence, patients with both diseases use analgesics and antiplatelet agents simultaneously. The risk of bleeding increases with the use of antiplatelet agents and this is further increased when NSAIDs are added. We would like to report a case that reflects this situation. A 60-year-old man underwent stenting after ST-elevation myocardial infarction, and was treated with aspirin and clopidogrel. This patient also received a pelubiprofen prescription from another physician to treat osteoarthritis. After the patient took pelubiprofen twice, he found a bruise on his wrist and reported it to the pharmacist. It is unlikely that this is rare in community pharmacies, so pharmacists should pay careful attention to the concomitant administration of analgesics to patients receiving antiplatelet agents and should provide appropriate education to patients.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.154-162
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• 2016

Extracurricular activities are voluntary participations that students engage in outside of classrooms. This study aimed to determine Korean pharmacy students' degree of involvement in extracurricular activities, motivations behind participation, and influences from those engagements. The study was performed as a voluntary online survey to pharmacy students in four pharmacy schools in Korea and a total of 188 students participated. Sixty-one percent and 34% of students reported that they were involved in at least one extracurricular activities in-school, and out-of-school, respectively. Areas with most involvements were arts/music/sports (73%), followed by volunteer activities (31%). Thirty two percent responded that they have been involved in research internships, followed by 15% and 10% in pharmaceutical company and community pharmacy internships, respectively. For motivations behind involvement, students indicated that their involvement was for hobby (72%) and networking (38%). In conclusion, while Korean pharmacy students actively engage in extracurricular activities, the range of activities was limited in scope, and most students were involved in extracurricular activities as hobbies rather than for career exploration. Opportunities for student involvement in various pharmacy professional organizations and internships in the pharmacy work setting would provide valuable experiences for pharmacy students in their professional development as a pharmacist.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2000

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) may result in increased hospital admissions, morbidity and mortality, adding extra cost to healthcare expenditures. Thus, it is critical to activate ADR monitoring and reporting program in tertiary hospitals in developing countries such as Korea. This study was performed to identify the types of ADR being reported in a tertiary hospital, Samsung Medical Center, and to find out the ways to improve current ADR monitoring system. Of 464 ADR reports submitted to the pharmacy department during the 6-month survey period, $97.8\%$ of the reports were from out patient and $48.5\%$ were from patients aged between 50 and 60. The medical department with the highest frequency in ADR reporting was Internal Medicines $(35.6\%)$. The most common ADR manifestations were gastrointestinal complaints $(43.4\%)\;and\;75\%$ of the reported cases were mild in their severity. The most common drugs suspected of causing ADR were CNS drugs which accounted for $32.8\%$. In terms of causality assessment, $85.1\%$ of the reports were probable cases by WHO causality assessment criteria. In regards to sources of report, $75.6\%$ of ADR were reported by physicians and $24.4\%$ by nurses. There were no ADR reported by pharmacists. In conclusion, there is an urgent need to improve ADR monitoring system for inpatient and to motivate pharmacist involvement in ADR monitoring and reporting in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2008

Objective: The aim for this article was to evaluate and to clarify the current opinions of the registered pharmacists concerning their recognition and adoption rates about introducing the preceptorship into the clinical pharmacy internship and clerkship. Methods: A 25-question-questionnaire was developed and pilot tested. For 40 days of survey by both on-line and on site, 90 over 240 (37.5%) registered pharmacists responded and the data were analyzed with comparison to the groups working in community and hospital pharmacies. Results: The overall answers were affirmative and the respondents were very interested in the application of the clinical preceptorship to the pharmacy educational and to their clinical settings. Moreover, the qualification level and the implementation methods were proposed in detail. Conclusion: Although ninety pharmacists showed their views differently, most of the respondents regarded the preceptorship as an adequate training system for the pharmacy students as well as junior pharmacists at the time of initiation of the new 6-year pharmacy education system in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2002

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.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.232-238
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• 2013

Background: Although thromboembolism is common and one of the major causes of mortality in cancer patients, maintaining therapeutic anticoagulation effect with warfarin is challenging. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and the causes of non-therapeutic INR (International Normalized Ratio) in cancer patients. Methods: Medical and pharmacy records for cancer patients managed by the pharmacist-run anticoagulation service (ACS) between May, 2010 and April, 2011 at Seoul National University Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. The causes of non-therapeutic INR were identified and compared with the results from a former study with mechanical heart valve patients. Results: A total of 335 cancer patients and 6,737 patient-visits were analyzed producing 68% (n=4,590) of non-therapeutic INR readings. Eighty-five percent of the non-therapeutic INR readings were categorized as sub-therapeutic. Frequent causes linked to non-therapeutic INR included inadequate dosage adjustment (21.8%), changes in health status (11.8%), dietary changes (8.1%), and drug interactions (4.2%). More than half of the non-therapeutic INR values had no known etiology. As causes for non-therapeutic INR, changes in health status (p<0.0001), adverse reactions (p<0.0001), and dietary changes (p=0.017) were statistically more frequent in cancer patients than in patients with mechanical heart valves. Furthermore, exposure to sub-therapeutic INR were more prevalent in cancer patients than in patients with mechanical heart valve (p<0.0001). Conclusions: This study shows that there is a tendency to keep the level of INR low and that health status change, dietary change, and drug interactions are found to be frequent causes for non-therapeutic INR in cancer patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.197-205
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• 2013

Background: Many factors including drugs, dietary supplements, and food intake can affect the development and organ formation of fetuses. Because of this, subject tends to avoid consuming things like coffee, alcohol, or cigarettes due to the risks they pose during pregnancy. Therefore, analysis of drugs and favorite food consumption is needed and important to ensure safe health management for subject. Purpose: This study was conducted domestically to analyze these factors in South Korea. Method: The survey was conducted from pregnancy-related online communities for six days and the survey results were received via email for analysis. Result: A total of 127 subjects answered the questionnaire via email; the characteristics of subjects are widely varied in their ages, education levels, job statuses, and residences. The questionnaire included the intake of dietary supplements during pregnancy including vitamins and the result showed that the subjects took 2.23 different kinds of supplements on average. In order of highest frequency, 101 subjects took multivitamins; 79 subjects took an iron supplement; 30 subjects took analgesics; 20 subjects took prescribed antipyretic and medication for upper respiratory diseases; 12 subjects took antibiotics; 7 subjects took antiemetics. Their compliances were different in each medication categories. Only 8% of subjects answered that they had asked a pharmacist for medication information during pregnancy. In addition, 78% of subjects answered that they never counseled with anyone about pregnancy related medication use. Conclusion: In conclusion, many subjects took medication including dietary supplements. The role of pharmacists should be actively developed to improve subject care such as education about subject's medication uses and their food consumption behavior.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized children ranges between 12% and 24%. Although the consequences of hospital malnutrition are enormous, it is often unrecognized and untreated. The aim of this study was to identify the current status of in-hospital nutrition support for children in South Korea by carrying out a nationwide hospital-based survey. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Out of 345 general and tertiary hospitals in South Korea, a total of 53 institutes with pediatric gastroenterologists and more than 10 pediatric inpatients were selected. A questionnaire was developed by the nutrition committee of the Korean Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. The questionnaires were sent to pediatric gastroenterologists in each hospital. Survey was performed by e-mails. RESULTS: Forty hospitals (75.5%) responded to the survey; 23 of them were tertiary hospitals, and 17 of them were general hospitals. Only 21 hospitals (52.5%) had all the required nutritional support personnel (including pediatrician, nutritionist, pharmacist, and nurse) assigned to pediatric patients. Routine nutritional screening was performed in 22 (55.0%) hospitals on admission, which was lower than that in adult patients (65.8%). Nutritional screening tools varied among hospitals; 33 of 40 (82.5%) hospitals used their own screening tools. The most frequently used nutritional assessment parameters were weight, height, hemoglobin, and serum albumin levels. In our nationwide hospital-based survey, the most frequently reported main barriers of nutritional support in hospitals were lack of manpower and excessive workload, followed by insufficient knowledge and experience. CONCLUSIONS: Although this nationwide hospital-based survey targeted general and tertiary hospitals with pediatric gastroenterologists, manpower and medical resources for nutritional support were still insufficient for hospitalized children, and nutritional screening was not routinely performed in many hospitals. More attention to hospital malnutrition and additional national policies for nutritional support in hospitals are required to ensure appropriate nutritional management of hospitalized pediatric patients.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

In preparing for the unification of North and South Korea, rather than unilaterally over-writing the North's human resource training system with the South's health care human resource development system, it is important to understand the North's system and its ecology and to achieve a balance by seeking out aspects of each of the systems that could be consolidated with each other. The training period in both the North and South's health care human resource development systems is specified to be 6 years, but there is no system for internships or residencies in the North. South Korea introduced a 6-year system for pharmacist education in 2009, but North Korea has been using such a system since the 1970s (currently 5.5 years). In North Korea, training of health care personnel is conducted at various levels: at universities, at vocational schools, and at institutes for training health officials. Various types of training (daytime training, online, and ad hoc programs) are carried out. Also of interest is the North's licensure examination system. Rather than a state examination system as in South Korea, the North favors a graduation exam given by a national graduation examination committee composed of university professors, which awards both graduation certificates and 'permits,' that is, licenses for doctors and pharmacists. In working out a plan for the integration of the two Koreas' systems based on the study and analysis of the North's educational and testing system for doctors and pharmacists, this paper does not place exclusive focus on the distinctions between the systems or cling to negative views. Rather than claim that unification/integration is a practical impossibility, the paper focuses on the similarities between the two systems and maximizes them to uncover an approach for arriving at solutions. It is hoped that the practical data offered in this paper can contribute to the design of a forward-minded unification/integration model.