Technical issues and conservation conditions of medicines in the primary health care of the Brazilian Unified Health System

Authors

  • Ediná Alves Costa Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva
  • Patrícia Sodré Araújo Universidade do Estado da Bahia. Departamento de Ciências da Vida
  • Marcelo Tavares Pereira Universidade Federal da Bahia. Faculdade de Farmácia
  • Ana Cristina Souto Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva
  • Gisélia Santana Souza Universidade Federal da Bahia. Faculdade de Farmácia
  • Augusto Afonso Guerra Junior Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Farmácia. Departamento de Farmácia Social
  • Francisco de Assis Acurcio Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Farmácia. Departamento de Farmácia Social
  • Ione Aquemi Guibu Santa Casa de São Paulo. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Departamento de Saúde Coletiva
  • Juliana Alvares Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Farmácia. Departamento de Farmácia Social.
  • Karen Sarmento Costa Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Núcleo de Estudos de Políticas Públicas Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas. Departamento de Saúde Coletiva Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Faculdade de Medicina. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia
  • Margô Gomes de Oliveira Karnikowski Universidade de Brasília. Faculdade de Ceilândia
  • Orlando Mario Soeiro Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas
  • Silvana Nair Leite Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/S1518-8787.2017051007106

Keywords:

Drugs for Primary Health Care. Drug Storage. Pharmaceutical Services. Pharmacovigilance. Unified Health System. Health Surveillance

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the technical issues and conditions of medicines conservation in Primary Health Care of Brazilian regions, responsible for pharmacy/dispensing unit profile; environmental, storage, and dose fractioning conditions; inventory control and waste management; fire and electrical failure safety items; transportation problems; advertising regulation; and pharmacovigilance. METHODS: This article is part of the Pesquisa Nacional sobre Acesso, Utilização e Promoção do Uso Racional de Medicamentos – Serviços (National Survey on Access, Use and Promotion of Rational Use of Medicines – Services)–, a cross-sectional and exploratory study, of evaluative nature, consisting of an information survey within a representative sample of municipalities, stratified by Brazilian regions, which constitute the study domains, and a sample of Primary Health Care services. Pharmaceutical services (PS) were directly observed with photographic record and face-to-face interviews with those responsible for the dispensing of medicines and over the telephone with those responsible for pharmaceutical services. Data were processed with the SPSS® software version 21.RESULTS: The investigated dimensions showed relevant deficiencies and inequalities between the regions, generally more favorable in the Southeast and Midwest regions and weaker in the Northeast and North regions. We verified non-compliance with technical requirements and conditions essential to the conservation of medicines, which may interfere with the maintenance of stability and, thus, on their quality, efficacy, and safety. The regulation of advertising/promotion of medicines is still incipient and there is some progress in the structuring of mechanisms regarding pharmacovigilance. CONCLUSIONS: The sanitary situation of medicines in Brazilian Primary Health Care is alarming due to the violation of the specific sanitary legislation for dispensing establishments and due to a wide range of requirements essential to the conservation of medicines. We observed a disconnection between the efforts made in the Brazilian Unified Health System to promote access to medicines for all population and the organization and qualification of pharmaceutical services

Published

2017-09-22

Issue

Section

Original Articles

How to Cite

Costa, E. A., Araújo, P. S., Pereira, M. T., Souto, A. C., Souza, G. S., Guerra Junior, A. A., Acurcio, F. de A., Guibu, I. A., Alvares, J., Costa, K. S., Karnikowski, M. G. de O., Soeiro, O. M., & Leite, S. N. (2017). Technical issues and conservation conditions of medicines in the primary health care of the Brazilian Unified Health System. Revista De Saúde Pública, 51(suppl.2), 12s. https://doi.org/10.11606/S1518-8787.2017051007106