![]() | OTORI ToruDepartment of Pharmacy Professor |
We investigated the cases of medical emergencies that occurred at pharmacies and drugstores for which an ambulance was called. We extracted the cases from the records of ambulance crews that were maintained at the Osaka City Fire Department. A total of 1,075 calls from pharmacies or drugstores were recorded during a 6-year period. The distribution of calls during daytime and the day of the week were consistent with the time and day when the drugstores were open. The number of internal cases was 774. The most common reason among the internal causes was general fatigue followed by syncope, abdominal pain, and convulsion. The number of cases associated with disturbance of consciousness was 183. Among the external causes (250 cases), most of the patients were injured in falls and had a bruise, or a fracture. Cardiac arrests occurred in 10 cases. Typical customers of pharmacies or drugstores are old age people who have underlining diseases and some patients take several kinds of drugs every day. Therefore, pharmacists have to be able to manage common internal and external medical emergencies for such customers. The skills of life support are also important for pharmacists.