Medicine In South Korea Research Articles

Effects of pharmaceutical cost containment policies on doctors’ prescribing behavior: Focus on antibiotics

ObjectivesWe analyzed the effect of the outpatient prescription incentive program and price cuts of listed medicines in South Korea on prescription drug expenditures and prescription behaviors, focusing on antibiotics for the most common infectious diseases. MethodsWe used the National Health Insurance claims data from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012. For 1625 primary clinics randomly sampled, we included all claims with principal diagnoses of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs, J00–J06), acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs, J20–J22), or otitis media (H65, H66). An interrupted time-series analysis was conducted. ResultsPharmaceutical spending per claim dropped immediately after the outpatient prescription incentive program only for otitis media (adults), but the secular trend shifted downward after the incentive program for all target diseases. The incentive program lowered the trend of antibiotic prescribing rate in otitis media (adults). The program was associated with an increase of the number of antibiotics prescribed in URTI (adults) and LRTI (children) and decrease in otitis media (adults). The broad markdown of drug prices reduced pharmaceutical expenditures immediately for all diseases, but without lasting effect. ConclusionThe direct financial incentives to physicians to reduce in prescription spending had the intended effect over time and can be an important tool to improve pharmaceutical spending management.

Art-mediated peer-to-peer learning of empathy

Making experiential art in a clinical clerkship offers opportunities for students to gain self-awareness and enhance their empathic understanding of patients. The student-created art can be further used as teaching material for other students. The graduating class of 2012 from Ajou University School of Medicine in South Korea was interested in learning about medical humanities initiatives at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKU), and made an educational visit in May 2012. As part of the core family medicine curriculum, third-year HKU medical students created poetry and art based on their experiences witnessing patients in pain and suffering. Twenty of the artworks and accompanying reflective writing were chosen for an exhibition. The visiting students viewed the exhibit and created their own art based on their emotional response to one piece selected from the exhibit. The combination of viewing art made by their peers and creating art in response resulted in empathic understanding of patient pain and suffering, and an appreciation of holistic care and the value of the doctor-patient relationship. Medical student-generated artwork has the potential to educate both students and professionals on humanistic aspects of medical care.

The Development of Emergency Medicine in South Korea: Academic Productivity in Highly Cited Journals

Introduction The purpose of this study was to examine the number of publications by South Korean emergency physicians in highly cited journals and the increase in their numbers. It also sought to assess the impact factors of such publications. Methods The present study was a retrospective quantitative literature review of the publications by South Korean emergency physicians from 1996 to 2011 in the category of “emergency medicine” in the science edition of Journal Citation Reports 2011. We analysed the total number of articles published by South Korean emergency physicians and their impact factors. Results Between 1996 and 2011, the number of South Korean board-certified emergency physicians increased from 51 to 958, and 230 articles were published in 14 highly cited journals. The total impact factor (IF) of the original articles published during that period was 227.86, and the mean IF was 1.93. More than 10 articles had been published annually in the past 5 years in highly cited journals and there were over 400 South Korean board-certified emergency physicians. Conclusions Emergency medicine in South Korea started about 20 years ago, but academic productivity, indicated by at least ten articles annually in highly cited journals, was only achieved in the last five years. The mean IF of these articles was similar to that in other highly productive countries. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2014;21:205-212)

The Experience of Emergency Pediatric Ultrasound Education Course

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the experience and satisfaction of the trainees participating in the Emergency Pediatric Ultrasound Training Course, which has been developed from a close cooperation between the Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Society of Emergency and Critical Care Imaging. Methods A task-force team was formed consisting of 8 members, collectively from both Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Society of Emergency and Critical Care Imaging. Over 9 separate discussion sessions, the team reviewed related articles to reach a consensus on an educational framework, a curriculum for the training course, and teaching methods to adapt to the conditions of Pediatric Emergency Medicine in South Korea. Results After running the course twice with a developed curriculum, the trainees were polled for their training experiences. A total of 36 trainees completed <one of> the course. The response rates were 81.3% and 40% in the first and second course, respectively. On average, the ratings by participants in the survey were above a 4 for all questions, which are significantly high scores. Over sixty percent of participants rated 4 or above in the Likert scale for all of the questions. Conclusion Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Emergency Imaging Study Group (now renamed to Society of Emergency & Critical Care Imaging) successfully developed the Emergency Pediatric Ultrasound Course, which was rated significantly favorably by the trainees. Key Words: Ultrasonography; Pediatrics; Emergency Medicine; Education

P04.84. A comparative survey study on integrative medicine in China and South Korea

Results Integrative medicine practices are increasingly popular in both China and Korea. 81.6% of Chinese medicine doctors and 32% of Western medicine doctors report experience with integrative medicine in China. In contrast, while 74% of Traditional doctors report experience with integrative medicine in South Korea, WM doctors in South Korea reported none. Doctors in China gave a slightly higher evaluation on the effectiveness of integrative medicine. Finally, there is considerable disparity in opinions on the “model of integrative medicine.” WM doctors in Korea and China generally proposed a “Western medicine dominant and Traditional medicine complementary model.” In contrast, most Korean doctors proposed a “Korean medicine and Western medicine 1 +1 model”, and most Chinese doctors believed in Integrative Medicine as a “third medical system” model.

A Comparison of Clinical Oncologists and Family Physicians toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine in South Korea: Perceptions, Attitudes and Physician-Patient Communication

Results: Of 500 physicians, males were 73.4%, and 82.0% were middle-aged 30-49. Family physicians had more interest than oncologists about CAM (79.5% and 57.5%, respectively). In addition to, family physicians preferred introducing CAM to their patients than oncologists (34.1% and 18.4%, respectively). Almost 85% of the oncologists and family physicians thought that it was necessary to introduce CAM to their patients. However, 60.2% of them had hesitated their practice because 70.3% of them did not have suffi cient knowledge in CAM. Both specialty physicians responded that usefulness of CAM information when regarding practice, should contain evidence-based evaluation (59.2%) and consensus guideline (37.0%). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that most physicians did not have sufficient information regarding CAM (87.2%). The result implies that evidence based information on complementaryand alternative medicine should be offered in the national level to improve communication between physicians and patients.

Recent Activities of Regenerative Medicine in South Korea

The article summarizes research activities on regenerative medicine in South Korea. It includes a table on the venture companies in the area of regenerative medicine and a table of regenerative medicinal products approved by the Korean Food and Drug Administration.

APhA Drug Treatment Protocols Management of Pediatric Acute Otitis Media: Annual costs for treatment of this painful childhood disorder exceed $3.5 billion.

We analyzed the effect of the outpatient prescription incentive program and price cuts of listed medicines in South Korea on prescription drug expenditures and prescription behaviors, focusing on antibiotics for the most common infectious diseases.We used the National Health Insurance claims data from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012. For 1625 primary clinics randomly sampled, we included all claims with principal diagnoses of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs, J00–J06), acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs, J20–J22), or otitis media (H65, H66). An interrupted time-series analysis was conducted.Pharmaceutical spending per claim dropped immediately after the outpatient prescription incentive program only for otitis media (adults), but the secular trend shifted downward after the incentive program for all target diseases. The incentive program lowered the trend of antibiotic prescribing rate in otitis media (adults). The program was associated with an increase of the number of antibiotics prescribed in URTI (adults) and LRTI (children) and decrease in otitis media (adults). The broad markdown of drug prices reduced pharmaceutical expenditures immediately for all diseases, but without lasting effect.The direct financial incentives to physicians to reduce in prescription spending had the intended effect over time and can be an important tool to improve pharmaceutical spending management.

The Recent Development of Emergency Medicine in South Korea

Emergency medicine has developed rapidly in South Korea in the past decade, giving Korea one of the most advanced systems of emergency medical care in Asia. This article reviews the overall health care system and medical climate in Korea, as well as the great progress made in establishing emergency medicine as a specialty. It also describes the many improvements implemented in academic emergency medicine, emergency patient care, and emergency medicine management systems. Although the current economic crisis offers new challenges, much optimism remains about the future of this new Korean specialty. [Arnold JL, Song HS, Chung JM: The recent development of emergency medicine in South Korea. Ann Emerg Med December 1998;32:730-735.]