Vice Minister Park Minsu of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Listens to On-site Opinions on the Safe Use of Pharmaceuticals Service

On the 20th, Park Minsu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, visited Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital to review the usage status of the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) service. DUR is a service that provides real-time safety information on medications to doctors and pharmacists during prescription and dispensing, alerting them to potential adverse reactions when drugs are taken together or when certain patients (such as pregnant women or the elderly) may experience side effects, thereby preventing inappropriate drug use in advance.

This visit was arranged to strengthen the management of medications by examining the current operation status of DUR in medical settings and to listen to the difficulties faced by doctors and pharmacists on site. Recently, the importance of safe medication use has increased due to factors such as the aging population, increased drug use, and concerns about narcotics and misuse.

Vice Minister Park directly observed the use of DUR at the prescription stage in consultation rooms and the dispensing stage in the hospital pharmacy, and listened to explanations from the hospital staff. He stated, "We are working on improving the overall DUR system to provide doctors and pharmacists with useful, real-time, customized information," adding, "We will gather opinions from related organizations to ensure practical, field-centered improvements."

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