Practice of pharmaceutical care in pharmacies and drugstores in the North zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro

Pharmaceutical care consists of a patient-centered practice model that emerges as an alternative in the search for improving quality of life through the rational use of medications, aiming to achieve concrete results through pharmacotherapy. The implementation of pharmaceutical care in different care service contexts has gained prominence throughout Brazil, aiming to optimize drug therapy and promote health. However, studies carried out in the city of Rio de Janeiro have brought some challenges, which tend to impact the full implementation of these practices. In view of the above, the objective of this study is to analyze the practice of pharmacists regarding the pharmaceutical care provided in drugstores in the Madureira neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro. This is an exploratory, descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, carried out from April to November 2021. The data was collected from pharmacists working in drugstores and pharmacies in the Madureira neighborhood, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. 36 pharmacists were interviewed, the majority of whom were female (75%), graduated from private institutions (83%) and did not own the establishment (94%). More than half of the participants held the role of technical manager (69%) who carried out administrative activities in the pharmacy, user/client care techniques, in particular, guidance and dispensing of medicines. The understanding that 66% had about the provision of pharmaceutical care was related to the quality of the service that the pharmacist provides at the counter. It is concluded that the practice of pharmaceutical care, as recommended in the literature, was not observed in those drugstores, because during the dispensing of medicines, the pharmacist does not have sufficient knowledge, employing behaviors which are not consistent with adequate pharmaceutical care, such as the rational use of medicines, for instance.