• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2017

Objectives : This study was done to suggest appropriate number and time of dispensing herbal medicine for each Korean pharmacist. Methods : For this study, we visited one herbal dispensary institution which was considered as one of the biggest herbal dispensary preparing the largest number of prescription. We observed the work in the dispensary and recorded time for preparing prescriptions of 5 Korean Pharmacists. And we also recorded time for preparing prescriptions with toxic medicinal herbs of each Korean Pharmacist. Investigation has been done for 3 weeks, from 11, Jan. to 4, Feb. in 2016. Results : The whole dispensed prescription number of 5 Korean Pharmacists during 3 weeks were 899. These prescriptions include toxic medicinal herbs and general prescriptions. Ratio of prescriptions including toxic medicinal herbs was 38.4% while general prescriptions was 61.6%. Average direct dispensing time for herbal prescription of Korean pharmacists were 6.2 minutes. Applied personal allowances, appropriate number for dispensing in each day was 22.7. With allowances rate in general workplace, appropriate number for preparing was 20.5. According to ILO allowances regulation, appropriate number for preparing was 18.8. Conclusions : Suggested number of dispensing herbal medicine per day for each Korean pharmacist was 20.5. Applying this would be beneficial for development of Korean medicine circumstances.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Quality Management Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.54-65
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• 2006

Since the ending of the IMF period, the Korean health industry has experienced a number of changes in its environment such as hospital bankruptcy, enforcement of SDF(Separation of Dispensing and Prescription), opening of the medical market by WHO, evaluation of medical institutions with more than 100 sick beds, and limited approval for medical service advertisement. Furthermore, the concept of medical service has changed from a beneficent and vortical one to a hi lateral and righteous one. These changes in medical service have required medical institutions to provide customers with medical service options and adopt market principles actively, while considering customer satisfaction. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the service quality and service value of medical institutions, to understand the mutual relationship between customer satisfaction and repeat visits, and to suggest better solutions for the improvement of service quality. For future studies, It will be necessary to overcome the limitations of this research and develop proper measurement tools on service quality in the Korean medical system.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2012

Objective: This study is to review the current state of services offered to pharmacy users, and develop a service design converging a prescription service and a smart phone application service in order to enhance patients' experience at pharmacies and home. Background: Under the new medical system; separation of prescribing and dispensing drugs, a doctor writes a prescription to their patients and patients have their prescription filled at the pharmacy. As the number of flue, allergy and atopy patients has increased, waiting lines have been longer at pharmacies. Besides, the current medical service system lacks of providing proper information on prescribed pills to patients. There are already services offered during waiting times such as offering free drinks, magazines or suggesting general drugs which you can buy without prescription, however they neither cover the current medical service's shorts nor shorten the waiting time. Method: I researched objective and perceived waiting times reduction methods, the current service status at pharmacies, and the government's policy direction in a medical service. Also, I observed a patient's journey from the hospital to pharmacy and then home. I examined the circumstance at pharmacies, patients' behaviors and their thoughts during their journey, and extracted three main goals to design a service in order to help patients have positive perception during the waiting time; (1) to reduce the perceived time by the way of visualizing time and offering readings about what patients consider necessary, (2) to educate patients what they are into and how to get through, (3) to establish trust among patients, doctors and pharmacists. Based on three goals, I designed a structure and a wireframe for a new service application of smart phones. Results: With a new service design for pharmacy users, users can track their medical record and visit the information about their current medical treatments anytime. Also the service helps patients build reliable relationships with doctors and pharmacists. Conclusion: Experience is not just an activity but series of multiple activities. The serving range of a medical service should not be determined by stakeholders but user's holistic experience. By approaching a service design with a holistic vision, it can enrich not only a temporary experience but also a whole life well being. Application: Since there are already many service applications advising patients about their illness and finding right doctors, this service design is focused on the experience from getting a prescription till feeling better. The next move is to combine those two parts medical services and design an integrated service application. As a prescription is going to be coded in numbers, we might consider to design an un-attended pharmacy which can shorten huge amount of time for filling prescriptions.