• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2021

Background: The Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision-Making Act has allowed anyone aged 19 or older to sign an Advance Directive not to receive life-sustaining treatment when they are in the 'death process'. Recently, the Korean Pharmaceutical Association announced to raise awareness of the Advance Directive to the general public through community pharmacies across the country. This study aimed to investigate the public's willingness to accept pharmacist's consultation regarding the Advance Directive and to present future directions to pharmacists Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study using 16-items was conducted in adults, Study subjects were recruited by convenience sampling method during August 5-15, 2020. Results: Of 460 respondents, 51.7% were younger than 30-year-old and 58.7% were not in the healthcare field in terms of job or major. 60.2% knew about the Advance Directive and 81.7% agreed the necessity to sign when healthy. 50.0% had the willingness to consult with pharmacists on the Advance Directive for well-dying and 80.4% preferred verbal explanation together with written information. Simple linear regression analysis results showed a significant relationship between trust in pharmacists or satisfaction with pharmacist's communication and willingness to use pharmacist' consultation on the Advance Directive (1-point increases in values measured on a five-point scale are associated with 0.464 and 0.486 increases, respectively.) Conclusion: This study suggests that pharmacists need to improve the public's trust and communication capability to satisfy with public's demands on well-dying service.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.231-237
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• 2015

Backgrounds: Patient counseling has been forced since June. 19, 2014. Prior to this, there was no study to try to standardize medication counseling to improve quality. Purpose: This study was to investigate satisfaction level and comprehension level between the pharmacist group and the patient group about standardized medication counseling sheet. Methods: Questionnaires to assess standardized patient counseling sheet were posted at online survey software (Qualtrics) to pharmacists who worked at community pharmacy and patients who had visited community pharmacy before. Results: Three hundred thirty five patients and three hundred nineteen pharmacists were responded to the questionnaire (Response rate: 72.9%). More than half of each group were satisfied with standardized medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged' and patient group were more satisfied than pharmacist group. Similarly, more than half of each group comprehended with the medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged'. Patient group tended to expect longer patient counseling time per one drug than pharmacist group. Also, the majority of both groups wanted to provide standardized medication counseling sheets constantly and extend for all drugs. Conclusion: Both groups were satisfied and comprehended standardized medication counseling sheets, and agreed to expand standardized medication counseling sheets to all drugs. So, it is necessary to build the standardized medication counseling of all drugs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.324-329
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• 2016

Background: With the development of information and communication technology, there is a growing number of people looking for health information on the internet. This pilot study was performed to analyze the pattern of pharmacist consultation on the internet portal site. Methods: Questions and answers posted on the portal site "Naver Jisik-iN" from March 1st to 31th in 2016 were collected. Medications asked were categorized into prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, sanitary aids, emergency drugs, functional health foods, and others. Medications were subcategorized into 14 according to the anatomical therapeutic chemical classification system. Questions were divided into 10 categories based on Hepler's drug-related problems. Results: Of the 955 cases, females accounted for 59.5% and inquirers from 11 to 40 years old, 89.4%. The number of prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, sanitary aids, emergency drugs, functional health foods, and others were 428 (44.8%), 328 (34.3%), 31 (3.3%), 2 (0.2%), 122 (12.8%), and 44 (4.6%), respectively. Questions for drugs acting on alimentary tract and metabolism took up 27.4% followed by those on nervous system, 13.6% and anti-infectives for systemic use, 12.2%. Pharmacist consultation regarding drug information, drug interaction, and adverse reaction occupied 47.9%, 15.2%, and 12.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Health counseling through online is predicted to increase steadily, so pharmacists should broaden their boundaries beyond off-line pharmacies to meet social needs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.126-133
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• 2024

Background: Medication's benefits and harms require careful management. Laws mandate pharmacists to provide essential medication details since inadequate counseling may pose risks. This study explores public expectations for pharmacist-provided side effect information to enhance safety. Methods: A self-developed questionnaire was created for participant to self-report, refined through pilot surveys with experts and laypersons. Nineteen items were categorized into four sections, using closed-ended questions. Adults over 20, having obtained prescription medications within the past year, were surveyed via convenience sampling. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and T-tests using IBM SPSS Statistics 21 and Microsoft Excel. Results: The study involved 189 participants, with a slightly higher proportion of females (59.3%) than males (40.7%), predominantly in their 20s (45.0%) and college graduates (57.1%). Health professionals represented 76.2% of respondents. Over half visited pharmacies at least 5 times yearly for prescriptions. Indirect experience with side effects was more common (30.2%) than direct experience (17.5%). Most (82.0%) showed interest in media-reported side effect events. Satisfaction with pharmacist-provided side effect explanations was low (59.7%), but importance was high (98.9%). Preferences favored combined verbal and written explanations (65.1%), with a majority desiring explanations for common but less serious side effects (82.5%). Healthcare professionals found explanations significantly more sufficient than non-professionals did. Older individuals, those living with elderly, and frequent pharmacy visitors attributed greater importance to pharmacist-provided explanations. Conclusion: Koreans view pharmacist-provided medication side effect explanations as vital but find current services lacking. Enhancements in content and delivery methods are needed in pharmacy counseling to meet public expectations.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-215
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• 2015

The aim of the research was to explore post-registration training opportunities for NHS hospital pharmacists which contributes to promote structural reform of the professional development and lifelong learning for Korean hospital pharmacists. In UK, all pharmacists are required to complete at least 9 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) entries per each year to maintain their professional registration. Types of accredited postgraduate qualification (part-time) in Pharmacy Practice available for hospital pharmacists are Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert, year 1), Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip, year 2), Master of Science (MSc year 3), and Professional Doctorate in Pharmacy programme (DPharm, 4-5 years or more). Clinical pharmacy diploma is more likely to become a minimum qualification in order to progress whilst working for the NHS. Pharmacy independent prescribers are allowed to prescribe all medications except cocaine, dipipanone, and diamorphine for the purpose of treating addiction within their competencies. NHS pharmacists are also classified by band point system depending on their practical/clinical knowledge and skills which starting from band 5 (Pre-registration pharmacist) up to band 9. Various learning and development options are also offered including teaching sessions, conferences and local forums.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2000

The undergraduate curricula of the twenty pharmacy schools in Korea were analyzed in order to find out the relationship between the Korean Pharmacist Licensure Examination (KPLE) and the Pharmacy Education. The results of this survey indicated that the Pharmacy Education was highly related to KPLE. During the 1999 academic year, there were 1,853 undergraduate courses offered by the twenty pharmacy colleges excluding pre-pharmacy courses. Of the total courses 73\%$ were related to the twelve subject of KPLE. Eighty percent were related to the basic pharmacy. Only $13\%$ were related to the pharmacy practice. The courses related to the Medicinal Chemistry were 16\% of the basic pharmacy courses. The numbers and the names of the subjects of KPLE have not been change during the past 3- years. Recently, the names of the subjects of KPLE have not been changed during the past 30 years. Recently, the National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board advised to change the courses from the drug-oriented curriculum to a practice-oriented one. Therefore, it will be better that the curriculum of the undergraduate pharmacy program to be re-organized focusing on the divisions of the courses, not on the name of the courses. The number of the under graduate courses should be reduced by combining the related courses. The more courses in the field of patient-oriented pharmacy practice are needed to be added to the undergraduate curriculum in order to produce the clinical pharmacists.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.85-87
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• 2010

Recently, the prevalence of bladder cancer is increasing in the Korean society. As the risk factors of bladder carcinoma are variable, the early-stage diagnosis is regarded the best preventive practice. Hematuria is a specific sign of the malignancy as well as a kind of various medication-related adverse reactions. Some anti-coagulation therapy can cause bleedings including hematuria to the patients with cardiovascular diseases such as paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). Therefore, to the clinical pharmacists working in the anti-coagulation services (ACS), a closer monitoring of patients can give an opportunity to find certain ailments unexpectedly. In this case, a patient with PAF had episodes of sporadic hematuria in the course of warfarin therapy even though with its low levels of INR. An ACS pharmacist found a discrepancy between the bleeding symptoms and INR values, and recommended properly the patient to refer urologist. Fortunately, an early-stage of bladder carcinoma was found then followed by an excision performed to the lesion. Therefore, alert-minded and precise monitoring done by ACS pharmacist could optimize the therapeutic outcomes as well as increase the quality of life of the patient.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2016

Background: The current educational goals and missions of pharmacy schools in Korea were analyzed to examine the current orientation and future direction of pharmaceutical education. Methods: Educational mission statements were obtained from the homepages of 35 pharmacy schools and subjected to convert into codes. Themes and categories were induced using qualitative content-analysis from the codes and compared according to location of school (capital area versus province), public versus private, and date of initial enrollment (before versus in 2011). The themes and categories were compared with "the eight-star pharmacist" suggested by World Health Organization (WHO) and International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). Results: Twelve themes, 44 categories, and 496 codes were identified. Themes included pharmaceutical expertise, professionalism, contribution to society, basic educational ideology, sphere of activity, leadership, research, dealing with future change, problem-solving ability, self-management and development, cooperation, and respect for life. Mission statements of schools that initially enrolled in 2011 cited humankind level contribution (p=0.011), patient-centered care (p=0.026), and globalization (p=0.018) more frequently than those enrolled before 2011. Most schools mentioned about care-giver, researcher, and decision-maker which were stated in "the eight-star pharmacist". Conclusion: To meet the growing social requirements of a pharmacist's roles, wide-ranging active discussion on establishing educational goals should be made.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.88-108
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• 2001

Separation of prescribing and dispensing practice in Korea has changed the service pattern of the pharmacy. The prescription dispensing activities, however, are concentrated excessively on the pharmacies near hospitals or clinics. Thus this study was conducted to estimate the number of optimal dispensing cases for the community pharmacy. Forty-six pharmacies were selected using systematic stratified random sampling method, and ninety-five pharmacists were interviewed on their workload of dispensing and other activities at pharmacies. One hundred and seventy prescriptions were chosen based on the length of drug administration and drug dosage form, and the dispensing time was measured by time-watch method. Also pharmacy benefit claims data were analyzed to identify the characteristics of the pharmacies which performed more than optimal dispensing cases. According to the study results, the average work time per pharmacist per day was found to be 10hours 32minutes and the dispensing activities occupied 7hours 36minutes. It took 5.72minutes on average for each dispensing case. The optimal dispensing case was estimated as 75 cases under the condition of 10hours 32minutes work time and 6% allowance rate. Even though the pharmacies near hospitals or clinics participated dispensing services actively, only pharmacies near clinics dealt with more than optimal dispensing cases. For the pharmacies near hospitals they dealt with less than optimal cases, but drug administration period per prescription was almost 3 times longer than that of pharmacies near clinics. Thus the intensity of dispensing activities such as drug administration period is to be considered to estimate optimal dispensing cases more accurately.

• 한국임상약학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.97-111
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• 2003