A gestão da saúde ao nível local

: análise da atividade farmacêutica em contexto urbano e rural

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how health management works, in both urban and rural communities, especially concerning the pharmaceutical sector, and with a particular focus on community pharmacies. As such, the general goal is to understand how the context (rural or urban) of a community pharmacy influences the pharmacists' attitude, as well as the latter's influence on the community it supports. Thus, with this study, I intend to explore the way geographical context influences a pharmacist's activity and understand the customers' perspectives on the role of the pharmacy in a community. Lastly, I will explore the influence of the current economic and social climate in the pharmacy-community relationship. For that purpose, I conducted a research with a sample of nine participants: three Directors of Pharmacy, three Pharmacy Technicians and three customers, with an emphasis on qualitative methodology. The goal of qualitative methodology is to value speech and perception of the participants regarding the pharmacy's role. In vivo observation was also used as a way to complement the semi-structured interviews, so as to understand the activities of a pharmacist and his/her interaction with the community. The data gathered was processed by the content analysis software NVIVO9. It has become clear from this research that the pharmacist has a growing importance in the community, not only to dispense medication, but also for the counseling and support he provides when there is an illness or any other specific situation related to the context where they work. The pharmacy's importance as a "Psychological Support Center" was mentioned several times. In terms of future study proposals, it would be interesting to solely focus the different perceptions of the pharmacy professionals in different studies.

Date of Award	8 Jul 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Liliana Cunha (Supervisor) & Eduardo Oliveira (Co-Supervisor)