The Problems of Nonproprietary Names Prescription

The government is now operating a pilot project of generic prescription in the National Medical Center and planning to execute it after analyzing the results. The aims of changing Brand Name Prescription (Proprietary Names Prescription) to Generic Prescription (Nonproprietary Names Prescription) are to reduce medical expenses, to increase patient's conveniences and rights, and to strengthen pharmaceutical companies' internal competitiveness. However, we doubt whether these goals can be reached by the execution of the Generic Prescription. More important is that Korea is not well prepared with the medicine bioequivalent experiments, which can be potentially harmful to patients. If the government should carry out this plan just because the pilot project involving some relatively safe medicines does not show problems, it will confront with big damages. Namely, carrying out the Generic Prescription in an unprepared condition will not benefit but will cause a big damage to the patients.

Interdisciplinary Approach Between Health Centers and Private Hospitals/Clinics

No abstract available.

The evaluation and treatment of patients with dyspepsia and Helicobacter pylori infection in Korean primary care physician / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND: Although Helicobacter pylori infection is now known to be the most common cause of various gastrointestinal diseases and progress in our knowledge about H. pylori is remarkable, whether this knowledge is transferred to general community of practicing physicians is questionable. We wished to investigate the clinical practice and prescribing patterns for dyspepsia and H. pylori infection in primary care in Korea. METHODS: We obtained information about the patterns of practice from reply to questionnaire by mail to physician. We restricted our study to the primary care physicians registered on the Korean Association of Internal Medicine Practitioners. The questionnaire was made of three compartments, which were diagnostic evaluation of dyspepsia, indication and methods of diagnosis and management in H. pylori infection. RESULTS: In case with initial visit of dyspeptic patient, 64.1% of physicians prescribe prokinetics (85.7%), antacid (61.5%), histamine-2-receptor blockers (59.4%), initially. The indications of H. pylori test were as follows; 91.6% in gastric ulcer including scar, 85.3% in duodenal ulcer, 59% in patient-want cases, 51.9% in gastric cancer, 42.7% in gastritis, and 22.8% in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. And the indications of H. pylori eradication were as follows; 90.6% in gastric ulcer, 88.7% in duodenal ulcer, 35% in gastric cancer, 30.7% in gastritis, 23.5% in patient-want cases, and 24.8% in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. In addition, 79.7% of physicians prescribe triple therapy including clarithromycin and amoxicillin for H. pylori eradication. CONCLUSION: From this study, we obtained more information about the clinical practice and prescribing patterns about dyspepsia and H. pylori related diseases. More studies are needed to prepare the guidelines for H. pylori under close cooperation between primary care physicians and tertiary hospitals.