Pharmacist's contribution to the promotion of access and rational use of essential medicines in SUS.

Objective:: to describe the pharmaceutical inclusion process in a Basic Health Unit multidisciplinary team and evaluate results related to rational use and promotion of access to essential medicines.

Methods:: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in a primary care health unit in the city of São Paulo. Pharmacist's activities were evaluated regarding the service structure and organization and prescribing quality improvement, guidance method creation, and implementation of clinical pharmacy service.

Evaluation of drug prescription quality indicators in a primary health care facility with different models of health care.

Objective: to describe drug prescription indicators in a primary health care facility with different models of health care.

Methods: this was a descriptive study using secondary data of prescriptions with regard to quality indicators in a health facility that has three health care models: Outpatient Medical Care (OMC), Primary Health Care Unit (PHU) and Family Health Strategy (FHS) in Vila Nova Jaguaré OMC/PHU in São Paulo-SP, Brazil, from July to October 2011.

Results: 16,720 prescriptions were studied; the proportion of drugs provided through the Municipal List of Essential Drugs (Remume) was higher for FHS prescriptions (98.

[Facilitating factors and difficulties in the the implementation of sanitary surveillance of drugstores in Salvador, state of Bahia, Brazil].

Drugstores are the health establishments where medications are dispensed, which is why sanitary surveillance is justified as a means of intervention. The health department uses various technologies to control risk in drugstores. In this study we used the theory of the process of work in health as a benchmark in order to describe and analyze the strengths and difficulties encountered in sanitary surveillance in drugstores in Salvador.

[Work in health: sanitary surveillance of drugstores in Salvador (state of Bahia, Brazil)].

A drugstore is an establishment of interest in health, from which medication is dispensed, namely the therapeutic technology most broadly used in the practice of medicine. The scope of this study is to describe and analyze the sanitary surveillance of drugstores. Based on the theory of working processes in healthcare, a case study was conducted on the sanitary surveillance of drugstores in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil), examining 2 analytical categories: agents and activities.

[Self-medication: a qualitative approach of its motivations].

A qualitative research was realized to verify the occurrence and motivations for self-medication and the quality of the information rendered by pharmacies. We conducted 3 focus groups with 25 patients of a reference public health service for STD treatment in Brasília, Brazil. We used the critical discourse analysis to interpret the data obtained during interviews.

New drugs in Brazil: do they meet Brazilian public health needs?

Objectives: To describe the new drugs marketed in Brazil during the period 2000-2004, compare the description to the country's burden of disease, and suggest initiatives capable of addressing the situation from the perspective of a developing country.

Methods: Records of new drugs were surveyed in an official drug registration database. The new drugs were categorized by Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification, indication, and innovation, and compared with the needs of the country's burden of disease.

[Assistance for customers with sexually transmitted diseases at pharmacies in the Federal District, Brazil: an intervention study].

A quantitative survey was conducted to analyze the type of assistance provided by pharmacy employees for cases of STDs. Simulated customer visits and interviews were conducted in 70 pharmacies in Brasilia and Taguatinga, Brazil, randomly assigned to two groups, one of which participated in educational activities on STDs. There were 411 simulated client visits to the pharmacies, with the following results: recommendation to seek medical care in 30% of cases, while in 70% of cases the pharmacy employees themselves recommended some drug treatment (although only 16.

[Evaluating the potential of an intervention aimed at promoting oral rehydration therapy (ORT) by educating pharmacy employees].

Diarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in childhood, and Brazilians rely heavily on pharmacies for the resolution of this and other health problems. To promote the rational use of both pharmaceuticals and oral rehydration therapy (ORT), an intervention study was performed in pharmacies in Southwestern Brazil. Semi-structured interviews showed oral rehydration solution, or ORS (50%), antidiarrheals (39%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (27%), and yeast (22%) to be the most frequently suggested drugs, whereas questionnaire responses were ORS (75%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (25%), and yeast (25%), thus revealing that more than one methodology is needed if reliable data are to be obtained.