의약품 표시와 관련 규정에 대한 소비자의 인식

Abstract

As information industry has developed rapidly, consumers became well informed through all sorts of mass media, yet the quality of the information leaves much to desire. Especially in case of medicine consumers must exercise great caution, as the managing needs professional training and the misuse may critically damage consumer's health and even life. Accordingly, this study was intended to identify consumers' perception of and demand for general consumer awareness about medicine labels. This study will thus provide basic information in concern with current situation on medicine label and consumers' perception on it, and act as preliminary one for further studies. This study distributed 540 questionnaires to male and female respondents in the 20s to the 60s, and recollected them. Excluding 34 questionnaires that responded improperly, this study utilized 506 questionnaires to analyze the data. First, referring to the confirmation level of medicine labels, the respondents seemed to check medicine labels relatively well. However, regarding the matters of ‘confirmation of ingredients of medicines’ and ‘confirmation of tablet imprint code system’, the respondents did not confirm these so well as other items. Secondly, the respondents scored below-average in terms of the level of perception on the regulations about medicine labels, meaning that they did not know much about the regulations about medicine labels. In the matters of both utilizing the system of reporting side effects of medicine products and inquiring compensation for the harm done by side effects, the respondents scored even lower. Thirdly, in concern with the confirmation of medicine labels, the results showed statistically significant difference due to gender. Female respondents confirmed medicine labels better than male ones. Also, marital status was found to make a statistically significant difference as well. Married respondents seemed to be better aware of the regulations than unmarried ones. Fourthly, when asked if they had trouble with the current medicine labels and if improvements were necessary, the respondents strongly recognized the need to make them better. These results suggest the following. Current medicine labels should be changed by reflecting consumers' needs and complaints, so that they are more readable, noticeable, and comprehensible. Also, improvements on system should be made so that there are more channels for information acquirement and communications. Proactive promotion and consumer education are also necessary. Thus, the manufacturers and the government should provide sufficient information on medicine label and provide enough comsumer education to keep them well informed.