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영어

Background (Purpose): The objective of this study was to investigate regulations on pharmacist and other healthcare professional license examination in Korea. Specific aim was focused on the implementation of new regulatory system governing pharmacist license examination particularly on naming of the subjects, method of the examination, and discrimination of pass or fail. Method: Laws and regulations of Korea on the examination system were retrieved from sources posted in Ministry of Government Legislation. Results: Two major regulatory differences were found between pharmacist and other healthcare professionals license examination systems. Firstly, the regulation on pharmacist license examination was ruled by the enforcement ordinance of parent law (Pharmacy Law) while it was ruled by enforcement regulation of parent law (Medical Law). Secondly, minimum grade requirement for pharmacist and other healthcare professionals was differently set up: 40% for each single subject in pharmacist and average of 40% for each group of several subjects in other healthcare professionals. Conclusion: Since pharmacist profession has drastically changed from drug-makers to drug-users during the recent decades, it is desirable to have the regulations on pharmacist license examination system amended in harmony with other laws and regulations of Korea and other major developed countries. Two-step examination for pharmacist license appears worthwhile to implement for balancing the two key functions of the pharmacist being drug-makers and drug-users.