Evaluation of Pharmaceutical Services in Public Hospital Pharmacies of Federal District - Brazil.

Objective: To evaluate pharmaceutical services in public hospital pharmacies of  the Federal District Health Department - Brazil (Secretaria de Saúde do Distrito  Federal, SES-DF).

Method: A cross-sectional evaluative study involving the 15 public hospitals under the SES-DF management. Hospitals were characterized and classified into four hierarchical strata.

Assessment of quality of prescription by dental students.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate changes in prescribing pattern of Dentistry students throughout academic course.

Methods: A case of non-complicated dental extraction was presented to all students that had completed their pharmacology coursework (from 4th semester to the last semester). The students were grouped according to year of study and were asked to prescribe paracetamol for pain control.

[Analysis of the self-medication pattern among Brazilian elderly women].

The elderly consume more medications than other age groups, being susceptible to irrational use of therapeutic drugs. This work describes a cross-sectional study that evaluated self-medication practiced by elderly women, who were assisted at the Elderly Care Facility of the hospital of the Catholic University of Brasilia. The socio-economical variables analyzed were age group, educational level and monthly family income.

Access to essential drugs in 11 Brazilian cities: a community-based evaluation and action method.

The Brazilian Institute for Defense of Consumers' (IDEC) health and legal professionals gathered with partner associations and researchers from the University of Brasilia shaped this study to develop and apply simple methods for community and consumer organizations to monitor the availability of essential drugs for primary care in their local public health services. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 11 Brazilian cities. The instrument gave priority to the feasibility of use by community organizations over statistically representative designs.