PURPOSE: This study investigated medication status by examining the effects of a medication management education program on the knowledge of medications and medication misuse behaviors in the elderly in a local community. METHODS: This study used a non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design. For the study, 116 subjects were assigned to the control group and another 116 subjects were assigned to the experimental group. The medication management education program consisted of 1:1 education, practice in medication management, consultation, and discussion. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 program. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups in terms of their knowledge of medications and medication misuse behaviors. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the medical management education program is effective in improving the knowledge of medications and decreasing medication misuse behaviors. Therefore, this education program can be used as an intervention to improve the medication behaviors of the elderly in local communities.
Aged* ; Education* ; Humans ; Medication Therapy Management ; Prescription Drug Misuse

PURPOSE: This study was designed to construct a model which explains drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: The design of this research is a cross-sectional study using structure equation modeling. The hypothetical model consisted of two types of variables: the exogenous variables of health status, cognitive ability, and negative emotion, and the endogenous variables of number of drugs, and drug misuse behaviors. The data collection was conducted from September 2 to September 21, 2013 through self-report questionnaires. Participants were 320 community-dwelling adults over the age of 65 living in J city. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 program and Amos 18.0 program. RESULTS: The results of the model fitness analysis were satisfied. The predictor variables for the hypothetical model explained 62.3% of variance regarding drug misuse behaviors. Drug misuse behaviors were directly affected by health status, cognitive ability, negative emotion and number of drugs and indirectly affected by health status, and negative emotion through number of drugs. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate factors that should be used in developing effective nursing interventions for safe and proper drug use and the prevention of drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults.
Adult* ; Cognition ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Nursing ; Prescription Drug Misuse

This study was conducted to investigate actual conditions associated with veterinary anesthetic drug use in Korea, and to obtain responses from Korean veterinarians and researchers pertaining to the use of anesthetic drugs. To accomplish this, a nationwide survey was issued to veterinarians working at animal hospitals and to researchers in the Korean Association for Laboratory Animal Science (KALAS). A self-administered questionnaire-based survey was then conducted in which respondents were asked questions about actual conditions associated with the use of animal anesthetic drugs. The survey revealed that the distribution and management of animal medicines in Korea was quite vulnerable to misuse or abuse due to a variety of factors. Therefore, a relevant regulatory system should be strictly enforced to protect vulnerable individuals from abuse or misuse.
Anesthetics* ; Animals ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Hospitals, Animal ; Humans ; Korea ; Laboratory Animal Science ; Prescription Drug Misuse ; Research Personnel ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Veterinarians

The serotonin syndrome is a serioius medical condition due due to an intensive stimulation of setonin receptors. It is a rare, but severe, consequence of interaction between serotomimetic agents. This is a report of a 70-year-old woman steadily in therapy with venlafaxine and rizatriptan for migraine and major depressive syndrome. She was admitted to neurology unit for decreased light reflex with miotic pupils, global hyperreflexia, tremor, anxiety, ataxia and incoordination. The patient was diagnosed as a probable case of serotonin syndrome due to a pharmacological interaction between venlafaxine and rizatriptan trigged by opioid intake. In this paper, the development of syntomatology, the clinical examination and the possible pharmacokinetics explanation were carefully discussed and analysed.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Ataxia ; Codeine* ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Female ; Humans ; Migraine Disorders ; Neurology ; Pharmacokinetics ; Prescription Drug Misuse ; Pupil ; Reflex ; Reflex, Abnormal ; Serotonin Syndrome* ; Serotonin* ; Tremor ; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride

Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Laryngeal Diseases ; etiology ; microbiology ; Mycosis Fungoides ; etiology ; Prescription Drug Misuse ; Substance-Related Disorders ; complications ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a medication self-management education program on medication awareness, communication with health care provider, medication misuse behavior, and blood pressure in elders with hypertension. METHODS: The research design for this study was a non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design. Participants were 23 elders for the control group, and 26 elders for the experimental group. The experimental group participated in the medication self-management education program which included the following, verbal education, 1:1 consultation, practice in medication self-management, and discussion over 5 sessions. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control group for medication awareness, medication misuse behavior, and communication with health care providers. However, no significant difference was found between the two groups for blood pressure. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the education program is effective in improving medication awareness and communication with health care providers and in decreasing medication misuse behavior. Therefore, it is recommended that this education program be used as an effective intervention for improving medication self-management for elders with hypertension.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use ; Awareness ; Blood Pressure ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension/drug therapy/*psychology ; Male ; Patient Education as Topic ; Prescription Drug Misuse ; *Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires ; *Self Care

Numerous drugs are known to cause seizures with therapeutic use or overdose. However, the relative frequency of such complications has rarely been studied, and little is known about the relationship of drug-induced seizures to eventual medical outcome. This study was performed to determine the causes and consequences of seizure associated with poisoning and drug intoxication. We analyzed about 786 cases of drug intoxication visited to Chung-Ang Gil hospital during recent 4 years from Jan. 1993 to Dec. 1996. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The total number of cases of drug intoxication was 786 and the most common drug of intoxication was antihistamines(291 cases, 36.3%); insecticides(113 cases, 14.7%); caustics(90 cases, 11.8%); herbicides(47 cases, 6.1%); NSAID(38 cases, 4.9%); rodenticides(36 cases, 4.6%); acetaminophens(34 cases, 4.4%); anticonvulsants(18 cses, 2.3%); neuroleptics(13 cases, 1.6%); hydrocarbons(9 cases, 1.2%); sympathomimetics(8 cases, 1.0%). 2. The leading causes of seizures were antihistamines(12 cases, 42.8%); insecticides(7 cases, 25.0%); sympathomimetics(3cases, 10.7%); neuroleptics(2 cases, 7.2%); others(4 cases, 14.3%). 3. Seizures associated with antihistamines were generally brief(11 cases, 92.0%) and uncomplicated(3 cases, 25.0%). 4. Seizures incidence by drug intoxication was relatively high in sympathomimetics(3 cases, 35.7%); and neuroleptics(2 cases, 15.4%). 5. Poisoning associated with seizure had relatively high risk compared with non seizure poisoning for medical complication.
Drug Overdose* ; Histamine Antagonists ; Incidence ; Poisoning* ; Seizures*

Drug intoxication in children and adolescents is not uncommon in Korea. But the tendency of intoxication is changing with some factors, such as national surveillance system, Naderism and increasing concern among physicians. But the death rate of intoxication among adolescents is increasing in spite of decreasing total death rate of intoxication among children and adolescents. Therefore the physician must be concerned about the basic management of intoxication and figure out the common toxic substance among children and adolescents.
Adolescent* ; Child* ; Drug Overdose ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality ; Poisoning*

In recent years, with the sustained increase of the incidence of diabetes in humans and the wider use of exogenous insulin, the cases of inappropriate use and overdose of insulin is growing, even the cases of suicide and homicide using insulin. Through searching the literature at home and abroad about the mechanism, clinical and case report of poisoning and death caused by insulin intoxication, this paper reviews the mechanism, clinical manifestations, pathological changes, and forensic examination.
Death ; Drug Overdose/diagnosis* ; Homicide ; Humans ; Insulin/poisoning* ; Suicide

The number of death from insulin overdose, including accidental poisoning, suicide and homicide, is increasing these years. The forensic diagnosis of death from insulin overdose is a tough task. Glucose is the main energy source of the brain. Therefore, hypoglycemic brain damage is considered to be the main reason of death from insulin overdose. Recently, research of hypoglycemic brain damage caused by insulin overdose is gradually being paid attention in the field of forensic medicine. This paper summarizes the neuropathologic changes, pathophysiologic process and potential neural molecular markers of hypoglycemic brain damage caused by insulin overdose in terms of forensic neuropathology, providing reference for the research and practice in forensic medicine related fields.
Brain ; Drug Overdose ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Insulin ; Neuropathology