Role Of The Hospital Pharmaceutical From The Perspective Of The Patients In Santiago De Cuba

Objective: To characterize the pharmacist' role in the provision of pharmaceutical services from of the patients' experiences, satisfaction, barriers, perceptions and expectations in different health care settings in Santiago de Cuba.Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study, in which structured interviews were applied through a validated questionnaires, to patients who gave their consent to participate and whom were selected by a stratified random sampling.Results: The sample included 781 patients, 440 in primary care and 341 inpatients. The most offered services are related with the distribution and drug acquisition (93.5%). A 3.2% of the patients state they had received clinical pharmaceutical those who received pharmaceutical care. 94.9% of the interviewed were unsatisfied with the provision of pharmaceutical care by pharmacists. A 93.5% perceived the pharmacist as a drugs sales person, and 55.3% as a drugs expert. Only the group, which received pharmaceutical attention, shows a high satisfaction and has a perception that values the pharmacist. The main barrier, which was identified, was the not knowing who the pharmacist was (84.8%). The main expectations are that pharmacist knows (93.2%) and resolves drug's related problems (97.05%).Conclusions: The results show difficulties in pharmacists' role towards the patients, from their own perspectives. The importance of the pharmaceutical care is needed for the transformation of patients' perceptions and the need to improve the actual implantation strategies for patient-care services. (C) 2011 Ediciones Mayo, S.A. All rights reserved.