保険薬局における漢方薬の使用と服薬指導の実態調査

－漢方薬の生涯教育の提案のために－

抄録

We surveyed the trends in the use of Kampo medicine (Japanese traditional medicine) and medication instructions of Kampo to patients using a questionnaire administered to pharmacies in Ishikawa Prefecture. Kampo medicine is dispensed in most of the pharmacies. Almost all the pharmacies used Kampo extract formulations for prescriptions, and few prescribed crude drugs. The diagnostic and treatment systems of Kampo are completely different from those of modern Western medicine. Many questionnaire respondents felt that Kampo medicine was more complicated than modern Western medicine in terms of determining the correct prescription. It may be that pharmacists do not understand the logic behind a medical doctor's prescription of Kampo medicine. Almost all respondents felt the need to enhance the pharmaceutical education of Kampo medicine at pharmaceutical colleges and lifelong learning support by the pharmaceutical association to increase the knowledge of Kampo medicine. Using cluster analysis, we showed that the respondents were divided into five groups by cluster analysis based on the awareness of Kampo medicine. We believe it is important to develop educational methods suitable for each cluster.