약화사고에 있어서 약사의 주의의무

Abstract

Abstract

As an expert in pharmacy who deals with patients' life, physical status, health, a pharmacist is obliged to do his/her best in order to prevent drug accidents in terms of prescription and sales of medicine and medical supplies. Such obligations as obligations in the management of medicines, obligations in terms of prescription, obligation in terms of sales, obligations in guidance and explanation of taking medicine are summarized as follows: First, a pharmacist should check medicines to be used in terms of prescription and sales in order to see if foreign matters and alien substances are included in the current year's medicines or they are decay or deteriorated. And it is stipulated that a pharmacist is required not to display, keep, and store medicines contrary to the Provisions of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law in terms of handling of medicines, and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law prescribes things-to-be-written on the medications and things-not-to-be-written in the medications. The obligations in the management of such medications have the intention to prevent drug accidents in advance by ensuring the safety of medicines. Second, a pharmacist cannot deny a patient's request of prescription without a justifiable reason if requested, and a pharmacist is obliged to prepare enough not to disrupt the prescription of special medicines in preparation for a doctor's prescription in advance. In addition, a pharmacist should prescribe according to a doctor's prescription except direct preparation which is stipulated exceptionally in Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, and must not misread a prescription when filing a prescription, and especially, strictly observe the prescribed concentration and dose in a prescription. If there occurs drug accidents due to the errors in concentration and dose, it may cause fatal consequences, more careful attention is required. When issuing drugs, a pharmacist must be careful not to change medicines to be administered to patients or not to be wrongly delivered. This plays an important role in preventing the drug accidents caused by a slight negligence. a pharmacist cannot change, modify, and prepare a prescription without the consent of the doctor who issued the prescription, and should receive the consent of the doctor who issued the prescription in advance even if he/she plans to prepare by replacing prescribed medicines to other ones with the same components, contents, and dosage forms. If he/she prepared by replacement without a doctor's consent in advance, the doctor is not responsible for the occurrence of the drug accidents caused by the replacement of medicines. And a pharmacist is not allowed to prepare medications without the consent of the doctor who issued the prescription in case he/she doubts of the name, quantity, usage, and dose indicated in the prescription. This aims to correct errors in prescription and get the drugs to be safely administered to the patient. If. looking from the pharmaceutical level at the time of prescription, he/she did not find any doubts from the prescription that might be found by a pharmacist in the average level and then prepared and sold according to a doctor's prescription, the consequences are the pharmacist's violation of his/her obligations. This plays a pivotal role in the pharmacist's administration as well as the guidance of taking medicine. pharmacist must prepare medicines at a pharmacy or at a prescription laboratory in medical institutions for the pharmaceutical preparations, and a pharmacist must specify certain matters on the container of the prescribed medicine and package and prescription, and preserve the prescriptions prepared by a pharmacy in store for two years after the date of prescription. And a pharmacist must keep the prescription records for five years, and respond to the patients who request to read or copy the prescription. This is the evidence of a pharmacist's preparation and administration and also to patients an important evidence to divide responsibilities in case of drug accidents. And a pharmacist must not reveal the secrets that are casually known to him/her when he/she prepared and sold medicines. Third, Pharmaceutical Affairs Law classifies prescription drugs from OTC drugs and promotes temporal and economic convenience so that a pharmacist is able to sell OTC drugs that are less concerned with the misuses and overuses among the medicines and are expected to achieve safety and efficacy without a doctor's prescription. However, the place of sales of medicines is restricted to a pharmacy, and the limitations that medicine containers and package cannot be opened before they are sold are imposed. In addition to this, no medicines are allowed to be sold except a pharmacist, and such an intention is to prevent drug accidents by making those drugs be treated or dealt with by a qualified person according to the original intention of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law since the medication dealings have a big and direct impact on the public health. Fourth, a pharmacist must explain in detail about the precautions and adverse effects of the medicines to be administered to the patients in order to prevent drug accidents in terms of prescription and sales of the medicines, and should provide information such as medicine's name, usage and dose, efficacy and effectiveness as well as the explanatory obligations. But, when it comes to the sales of OTC drugs, guidance of taking medicine is stipulated as a voluntary one. So although a pharmacist is not given the obligations of taking medicine, even so, obligations of taking medicine as a explanatory obligation is not considered to be exempted.

Keywords: drug accident, medicines, pharmacist, precautionary obligations, preparation, prepared medicine, contract for work and labor, guidance of taking medicine, duty of description(or explanation), prescription, self-care, prescription review, diagnostic determination