Public attitude and knowledge on a new health policy for pharmaceutical care in Korea

Objective: to assess college student's attitude and knowledge of the 'separation of dispensing and prescribing' policy in Korea. Design: a self-administered questionnaire survey of 700 college students. Main outcome measures: the attitude was assessed by the degree of interest in the policy, agreement to the policy need, expectation for the policy effect, and perceptions of motivation for physician's strike. The knowledge level was measured using four questions describing the goal/motivation of the policy and eight describing its operational rules. Results: the level of interest (2.60 on a four-point scale), and agreement to the need (2.66) and the potential effect of the policy (2.29-2.91) were not very high. Concern for economic loss was perceived as the strongest motivation for physician's strike. While relatively well understood for the goals/motivations of the policy (mean score: 69.58 out of 100), the operational details of the policy were not well-informed (32.52). Interest and agreement with the policy need were the most significant factors affecting the knowledge level (P<0.01). Conclusion: For other public policies in the future, policy makers in Korea need to ensure public consent for the necessity of the policy and to develop more effective strategies to inform the public of the practical details of the policy.