• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.64-80
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• 2003

The separation policy of prescription and drug dispensing which has been implemented since the 1st of July, 2000, has brought about great changes in patients flow within the healthcare delivery system. The changes in the patients flow, in turn, resulted in the change in the distribution of financial resources among the participating entities in the healthcare delivery system: pharmacies, clinics, small hospitals, general hospitals, and teaching hospitals. The purpose of this study is to shed some light in the change in the financial performance of teaching hospitals under the separation policy that has created environmental changes such as the decrease in the number of out patients visits, the increase in the capital expenditures, the rapid increase in labor costs and so on. For the purpose, this study has compared and analyzed the balance sheets, the income statements and other operational data of three teaching hospitals located in D area. The data include two periods: before(year 1999) and after(year 2001) the implementation of the separation policy. The analysis was conducted with an emphasis on the changes in the financial ratios such as liquidity, turnover ratio, performance ratio. and capitalization ratio. The results show that the financial performances of the hospitals under study were weaker than before the implementation of the separation policy, and that, while the operating expenses have increased remarkably, there was no tendency to corresponding increase in revenue. And the result of analysis of other operational indicators also show that the performance of the hospitals is getting worse. Based on the results, this study has suggested the directions of the healthcare policies. This study suggests to improve the current model of separation of prescription and drug dispensing, to grant subsidies for the training of residents in teaching hospitals, and to lower the rate of patients' out of porket payment in teaching hospitals.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2021

Background: The number of elderly people with comorbidities who experience dysphagia associated with geriatric disorders, such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's dementia, is increasing. Consequently, the demand for long-term prescriptions of powdered medications is expected to rise. Most patients procure repackaged prescription medications from pharmacies; however, the guidelines regarding their expiration dates are unclear. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess awareness among adults regarding the expiration dates and drug stability issues associated with repackaged prescription medications, including powdered medications. Methods: A questionnaire with 16 components was designed and distributed online (August 1-September 1, 2019) to adults aged 19 years or older. Statistical analyses, including descriptive analysis and chi-square test, were conducted on the obtained data. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Data from 254 respondents were analyzed; 191 (75.20%) respondents worked in non-healthcare-related fields. A significant number of healthcare workers recognized the stability issues associated with powdered medications (p<0.001). However, a large proportion of healthcare workers were not aware of the expiration dates (p>0.05). Conclusions: More than half of the total respondents, including healthcare workers, were not familiar with the appropriate expiration dates of repackaged prescription medications. The establishment of evidence-based guidelines regarding drug expiration dates and the dissemination of awareness among patients are required. Furthermore, clinical practices including repackaging or pulverizing medications for long-term prescriptions should be avoided owing to the associated drug stability issues.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.507-513
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting financial performance of community pharmacies after the implementation of the new drug policy in Korea: separation of drug prescription and dispensing (SPD). The online survey questionnaires were sent to the active pharmacists of the total 20,633 community pharmacies in Korea and 1,147 pharmacists responded to the survey (the response rate was 5.5%). The questionnaire asked simple financial data in order to compare their financial performances before and after the policy. With the SPSS package (version 12.0), two levels of data analysis were used: 1) descriptive statistics to see the financial status of the pharmacies; and 2) multiple regression analysis to find the factors. {or A multiple regression method was used for the data analysis.} The finding illustrated that the average net benefit of the pharmacies was 4,870 thousand won in August 2006, and the major factors affecting the net benefit were the location of pharmacy (geographical proximity to medical institutions), number of prescriptions, drug management services for patients, chain pharmacy membership. The findings of this study suggest that service improvement for patients, revitalization of non-prescription drug sales, professional management will contribute to promote community based pharmacy business.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.145-161
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• 2007

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease associated with cutaneous hyperreactivity to environmental triggers. The clinical phenotype that characterizes AD is the product of interactions between susceptible genes, the environmental factors, defective skin barrier function, and immunologic responses. This review summarizes recent progress in our understanding of the immunopathophysiology of AD and the implications for mouse models of AD in drug discovery from medicinal plants.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.187-197
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• 1972

In spite of the fact that the system of oriental medicine still remains in the realm of 'unproven-method of treatment', no one can deny that the oriental medicine is a rich source of idea and motivation for the discovery of new drug from natural sources. However, non-scientific, mystic hypothetical system of oriental medicine refuses to be revealed scientifically. For the purpose of drawing useful parameters for inductive reasoning of the system, a new approach which comprises statistical analyses of prescription was attempted in this study. One hundred and thirty two ginseng-compounds prescription in 'Bang-Yak-Hap-Pyon', one of the most popular formularies of oriental medicine in Korea, were analysed by multivariate analysis technique. The results revealed ginseng from many points of view, e.g., therapeutic indications, dose, and compatibility, etc. Among these, the most striking coincidence with scientific achievements of modern pharmacology, is the fact that the oriental medicine has characterized ginseng already from remote ancient times as neither a specific curative nor an aphrodisiac, but a non-specific adaptogenic drug for general infirmity.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.12spc
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• pp.409-414
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• 2021

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is considered to be one of the most important technologies provided by the Internet in our era. GIS enables institutions and individuals to plan and make decisions in many fields. GIS assists in accessing new and updated information on planning process. GIS also enables determining distances such as length, width, area on a map, and allows analyzing and processing a large amount of data for the search of geographical characteristics of locations. This paper explains the concept of dispensing prescription through the specific code of drug on an electronic system using GIS technology. The proposed methodology aims to inform patients of all the prescriptions dispensed and to help individuals inquiring about prescription at the nearest pharmacy through GIS technology. This proposed methodology is considered significant in some cases, as the patient does not know price, specifications and pharmacy location where the drug required is available, thus increasing the time and effort cost that is spent searching for the prescription.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.322-323
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• 2001

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2013

Medical errors such as adverse drug event, improper transfusion, wrong-site surgery, mistaken patient identity and so on commonly occur at health care practice. Information technology, like Drug Utilization Review(DUR) system which reviews, analyzes, and interprets medication data when prescribing, can play a key role in reducing such medical errors and improving patient safety. Korean Government has guided all hospitals to implement concurrent DUR(cDUR) system, which is the first case worldwide in that all healthcare providers have to use cDUR system when prescribing. This paper introduced a case study that a tertiary hospital has integrated the cDUR system into its comprehensive Hospital Information System(HIS) and analyzed the whole prescription data during a week right after adoption of cDUR system. Considering technical strength and weakness, the cDUR system was integrated into the HIS, using Broker Servers for minimizing doctors' anxiety. As the quantitative analysis of the whole prescription data, DUR conflict events, which mainly included duplicate medications and contra-indicated drug interactions for outpatients, were 2.77%. Although only 0.7% is for the contra-indicated drug interactions, it will be greatly devoted to achieve the purpose of DUR such as improving patient safety.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2024

Background: Drug-related problems have the potential to threaten patient health, and pharmacists are in a position to prevent such problems through prescription reviews and patient counseling, actively engaging in pharmaceutical care activities. This study aims to categorize and analyze the intervention activities of pharmacists in community pharmacies concerning drug-related problems, following international criteria. Methods: Over a six-month period, prescription interventions completed in a community pharmacy in Seoul were selected as the research subjects. The causes of interventions were classified according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) drug-related problems (DRPs) classification system and the types and frequencies of DRPs were identified. Results: Among a total of 49,334 prescriptions, 527 interventions were completed, constituting approximately 1.07% of the daily average filled prescriptions. Individuals over 60 years of age represented more than 50%. The primary cause of DRPs was prescribing and drug selection issues, comprising 256 cases (48.58%), with specific subcategories including 109 cases of drug selection, 79 cases of treatment duration errors, 47 cases of dose selection, and 21 cases of inappropriate dosage form selection. Patient-related issues accounted for 204 cases (38.71%). Conclusion: The study demonstrated that the pharmacists' intervention in community pharmacies contributes to the safe use of medication by patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.65-86
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• 1999

In this study, we investigate the welfare effect of mandatory prescription(MP) in Korea. An immediate effect of MP is the increase in the implicit price of prescribed medicine, which could be obtained easily from drug stores before MP. This will lower the quantity demanded. which will in turn reduce the abuse of drugs. The key to the cost-benefit analysis of MP, therefore, should be focused on this point; price increase in the cost side and quantity decrease in the benefit side. Since we do not have as much information as needed for the analysis, however, we made strong assumptions for the clarity of numbers; the severity of moral hazard of medical doctors related to the sales of hospital drugs, constant demand elasticity, constant benefit multiplier of reduced drug usage, and so on, With these rather strong assumptions, we find that i) the benefit side is much more sensitive to demand elasticity than the cost side effect ii) the larger the demand elasticity, the greater the size of net gain of MP, though the result depends on the size of the benefit multiplier. This analysis shows that we need to have more information on the specific institutional path of health benefit diffusion caused by the reduction of drug usage, which was the major target of MP.