Organization

The Department of Pharmacy at the Seoul National University Main Hospital consists of the following three main divisions.

Division of Pharmaceutical Administration

The Division of Pharmaceutical Administration is responsible for supervising drug use and managing the administrative and financial affairs of the Department of Pharmacy. It is composed of two section managers, nine pharmacists, one resident pharmacist, and one technician. This division is further classified into the Pharmaceutical Administration and Drug Information Section and the Clinical Pharmacy Section.

The Pharmaceutical Administration and Drug Information Section is responsible for managing pharmaceutical administration, providing drug-related information, and supporting the Pharmacist Organization. The Clinical Pharmacy Section is in charge of providing clinical pharmaceutical care such as Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM), Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) and Anti-Coagulation Service (ACS).

In addition to supervising the aforementioned affairs, the Division Director also establishes basic administrative programs and organizes conferences as well as events within the Department of Pharmacy. The Division Director also supervises the relationship between the Department of Pharmacy and other departments within the hospital to maintain an amicable environment.

Division of Dispensing

The Division of Dispensing provides accurate and prompt distribution of prescribed drugs to patients, as well as patient education. Since the start of the separation between prescription and drug dispensing policy, the Division of Dispensing is now mainly focusing on inpatients rather than outpatients, through the development and improvement of novel dispensing systems. Also, the division actively participates in quality assurance activities in the hospital in order to enhance the quality of activities related to the Pharmacy Department.

The division consists of two section managers, two chief pharmacists, twenty-three pharmacists, seven part-time pharmacists, and twelve technicians. The division is further divided into the Inpatient Dispensing Sections for Adult and the Outpatient Dispensing Sections for adult patients. The Inpatient Dispensing Section for Adult is responsible for dispensing prescribed medicine for adult inpatients and formulating pharmaceutical products unavailable in the market. Also, in order to maximize productivity, a separate Operating Room (OR) Pharmacy is open at the hospital OR. The Inpatient Dispensing Section for Adult is now capable of operating a more productive dispensing system by adopting the Unit Dose System (UDS). It also educates its pharmacists to provide professional patient counseling for patients to be discharged.

The Outpatient Dispensing Section for Adult is responsible for accurately and promptly dispensing prescribed medicine for adult outpatients who are excused to receive drugs from the hospital pharmacy after the start of separation between prescription and drug dispensing policy. Currently, these outpatients consist approximately 25~30% of all the outpatients at the hospital.

Division Pediatric Dispensing

The Division of Pediatric Dispensing consists of the Pediatric Dispensing Section and the Injectable Drug Dispensing Section, and two section managers, twenty-one pharmacists, seven part-time pharmacists, and eight technicians. The Pediatric Dispensing Section is responsible for dispensing prescribed medicine to both pediatric outpatients and inpatients, performing patient medication, and completing administrative affairs. Since patients are children, there is a need for a variety of doses, and even a higher need for multiple dosage forms such as pulverized medicine and syrups. In addition, oral medicine for pediatric patients is dispensed per dose unit and packaged separately inside a clean bench.

The Injectable Drug Dispensing Section is responsible for preparing anticancer drugs, antibiotics, and TPN solutions for adults as well as pediatric patients. This section consists of three different parts: TPN Dispensing Room, 112 Ward Injectable Drug Dispensing Room, and Pediatric Injectable Drug Dispensing Room.