How Pharmacists Deal with Pain: Knowledge and Skill

Werlissandra Moreira de Souza; Divaldo Pereira de Lyra Júnior; Leonardo Rigoldi Bonjardim; Wellington Barros da Silva

Authors

Werlissandra Moreira de Souza Laboratory of Research and Teaching in Social Pharmacy (LEPFS), Pharmacy Department, Federal University of Sergipe, Sao Cristovao, Brazil
Divaldo Pereira de Lyra Júnior Laboratory of Research and Teaching in Social Pharmacy (LEPFS), Pharmacy Department, Federal University of Sergipe, Sao Cristovao, Brazil
Leonardo Rigoldi Bonjardim Laboratory of Research and Teaching in Social Pharmacy (LEPFS), Pharmacy Department, Federal University of Sergipe, Sao Cristovao, Brazil
Wellington Barros da Silva Laboratory of Research and Teaching in Social Pharmacy (LEPFS), Pharmacy Department, Federal University of Sergipe, Sao Cristovao, Brazil

Keywords:

Headache, pharmacist, knowledge, skills, community pharmacy

Abstract

The pharmaceutical profession involves clinical situations requiring knowledge and skills on how to deal with patient in the community pharmacy. However, there is little specific information on the quality of pharmaceutical attendance for patients with pain. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and skills of pharmacists of a Brazilian Northeastern pharmacy network, on dealing with headache patients and their performance against the problem-situation presented. The rationality of therapeutic recommendations was assessed based on the opinion of the specialists and on a specific pharmaceutical management protocol. Only 16.7 % of the pharmacists selected the appropriate drug, 4.2 % provided non-pharmacological guidelines and 66.7 % of the professionals did not attain patient requirements or were considered incomplete (16.7 %) or inappropriate (16.7 %). The survey revealed that pharmacists did not met the needs of the patient or did not guided for the resolution of their problem or even performed in an incomplete or inadequate way.