Objective: Pharmaceutical assistance is essential in health care and a right of citizens according to Brazilian law and drug policies. The study purpose was to evaluate aspects of pharmaceutical assistance in public primary health care.
Methods: A cross-sectional study using WHO drug indicators was carried out in Brasilia in 2001. From a random sample of 15 out of 62 centers thirty exiting patients per center were interviewed.
Results: Only 18.7% of the patients fully understood the prescription, 56.3% could read it, 61.2% of the prescribed drugs were actually dispensed, and mean duration of pharmaceutical dispensing was 53.2 seconds. Each visit lasted on average 9.4 minutes. Of prescribed and non-dispensed drugs, 85.3% and 60.6% were on the local essential drug list (EDL) respectively. On average 83.2% of 40 essential drugs were in stock, and only two centers had a pharmacist in charge of the pharmacy. The mean number of drugs per prescription was 2.3, 85.3% of prescribed drugs were on the EDL, 73.2% were prescribed using the generic denomination, 26.4% included antibiotics and 7.5% were injectables. The most prescribed groups were: cardiovascular drugs (26.8%), anti-infective drugs (13.1%), analgesics (8.9%), anti-asthmatic drugs (5.8%), anti-diabetic drugs (5.3%), psychoactive drugs (3.7%), and combination drugs (2.7%).
Conclusions: Essential drugs were only moderately available almost 30 years after the first Brazilian EDL was formulated. While physician use of essential drugs and generic names was fairly high, efficiency was impaired by the poor quality of pharmaceutical care, resulting in very low patient understanding and insufficient guarantee of supply, particularly for chronic diseases.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s0034-89102005000200013 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Chinese Herbal Medicine and Their Active Ingredients Involved in the Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis Related Signaling Pathways.
Phytother Res
January 2025
School of Pharmacy, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory dermatitis of the skin and poses therapeutic challenges due to the adverse reactions and high costs associated with available treatments. In Eastern Asian countries, a plethora of herbal remedies is extensively employed for the alleviation of AD. Many of these botanicals are renowned for their formidable anti-inflammatory properties, contributing to AD management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCumulative Social Disadvantage and Medicinal Cannabis Use Among Younger Adults in Rural Communities: A Mixed Methods Approach.
J Psychoactive Drugs
January 2025
Center for Critical Public Health, The Institute for Scientific Analysis, Alameda, CA, USA.
This mixed-methods study investigated the role of medicinal cannabis use among younger adults who live in rural communities and experience high levels of cumulative social disadvantage (CSD). Results are based on cross-sectional surveys and online interviews with 153 younger adults (18-35-years old) in rural California. We assessed participants' levels of CSD (high, medium, and low) and examined associations with perceived general physical and mental health and with medicinal use of cannabis (MUC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTechnological advances in clinical individualized medication for cancer therapy: from genes to whole organism.
Per Med
January 2025
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Drug Evaluation and Clinical Research, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Efforts have been made to leverage technology to accurately identify tumor characteristics and predict how each cancer patient may respond to medications. This involves collecting data from various sources such as genomic data, histological information, functional drug profiling, and drug metabolism using techniques like polymerase chain reaction, sanger sequencing, next-generation sequencing, fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry staining, patient-derived tumor xenograft models, patient-derived organoid models, and therapeutic drug monitoring. The utilization of diverse detection technologies in clinical practice has made "individualized treatment" possible, but the desired level of accuracy has not been fully attained yet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe elusive bipartite scaphoid: a rare congenital variant or misdiagnosed pseudoarthrosis? A proposal for novel radiological criteria.
Folia Morphol (Warsz)
January 2025
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Queen Giovanna-ISUL, Medical University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Variations in the development of carpal bones are uncommon, with the scaphoid bone typically forming from the fusion of the os centrale carpi and the radial chondrification center during embryogenesis. A bipartite scaphoid is a rare congenital disorder that occurs when these ossification centers fail to fuse, with a prevalence ranging from 0.1% to 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCharacterization of lamotrigine disposition changes during and after pregnancy in women with epilepsy.
Pharmacotherapy
January 2025
Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Background: Lamotrigine clearance can change drastically in pregnant women with epilepsy (PWWE) making it difficult to assess the need for dosing adjustments. Our objective was to characterize lamotrigine pharmacokinetics in PWWE during pregnancy and postpartum along with a control group of nonpregnant women with epilepsy (NPWWE).
Methods: The Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (MONEAD) study was a prospective, observational, 20 site, cohort study conducted in the United States (December 2012 and February 2016).
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!