Feburuary 2011

The Late-night emergency pharmacy pilot project

The Korean Pharmaceutical Association has carried out a pilot project of running late-night emergency pharmacies from July 2010 to December 2010. Currently there are not many medical care services which are available during after hours. The purpose of initiating the project was to facilitate easy access of medical service to the public at late night and on public holidays.

The late-night emergency pharmacies are classified into two category; red and blue mark. The Red marked pharmacies locating in the major regional center, which is either open for 24hours or till 6 am the next morning. On the other hand the Blue marked pharmacies being local pharmacies that are open till 2am or 3-4am in the morning

The current operating status of the late-night emergency pharmacies

Based on the data from December 2010 as shown above, there are 26 red and 27 blue marked with the total of 59 pharmacies are currently operating as the late-night emergency pharmacy.

¡¤         The result of ¡°The hourly pharmacy utilization¡± survey

(Example of one of the late-night pharmacy).

Table shows that the majority of people (70.5%) used the pharmacy till 2 o¡¯clock in the morning.

▪ Frequently sold medication

As seen above, the most frequently sold medications were cold remedies followed by the hangover relief products, analgesics and indigestion remedies. These medications are usually household medications which is relevant to self-medication.

Problems found during the pilot project

- Financial loss (labor costing more than the income)

- Late-night safety issues
- Lack of late-night emergency pharmacies around
- The need for late-night emergency clinics to be open

The pilot project has created a good public awareness by proving that the medicines can be purchased after hours from the late-night emergency pharmacies. This also created a new performance value to the pharmacists. However, to achieve the ultimate goal of the project, it will need a new plan and improvement from the problems found during the pilot project.