Abstract
Management and public health are important domains of competency for pharmacists. In about 90% of Brazilian health departments, pharmacists manage the selection and purchase of medicines. The Pharmaceutical Services and Access to Medicines Management Course (PSAMM) was offered to pharmacists working in the public health system. The aim of this study is to analyze the impacts of the course as perceived by the students (pharmacists). Two thousand five hundred pharmacists completed the course. It is a mixed-methods study, including subscribing forms (n = 2500), evaluation questionnaire (n = 1500), focus groups (n = 10), and semi-structured interviews (n = 31). Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the course; they considered to have developed competencies related to leadership and management, competencies needed to enhance and sustain their practices in health services. Data analyses showed important barriers to complete the course: high course workload, poor quality of Internet access, lack of support from the health services. Participants highlighted crucial features of the course that helped them develop key competencies: practical in-service activities, useful and realistic contents, tutoring. These features helped participants overcome some important constraints described by them. The educational model described in this study was perceived as having a long-term impact on their behaviors and management practices in health services.
Highlights
IntroductionAccess to medicines is an essential component to achieve universal health coverage [1]
Access to medicines is an essential component to achieve universal health coverage [1].access to medicines and their rational use are persistent global concerns
The course was offered to pharmacists working in the public health system, using e-learning as the main approach [16]
Summary
Access to medicines is an essential component to achieve universal health coverage [1]. Access to medicines and their rational use are persistent global concerns. These issues have a significant impact on the health system’s quality and, on health [2]. The expansion of access to medicines was listed as one of the ten most prominent problems that demand attention from the World Health Organization [3]. It is necessary to address this issue from a health system perspective, considering the complex relationships between medicines and health financing, human resources, health information, and the broader issue of access to health services and interventions [1,4].
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