The pharmacist in the Brazilian Primary Health Care: a comparative analysis between 2014 and 2017

ABSTRACT The pharmacist play a vital role in PHC. However, studies addressing how pharmacists influence the health care network are still scarce. We aim to verify to what extent the inclusion of pharmacists in PHC Units (UBS) in the country is associated with the expanded structural aspects of pharmacies and drug availability in Brazil. This cross-sectional, retrospective, and analytical study employed secondary data from cycles 2 (2014) and 3 (2017) of the external evaluation of the Improvement of Access and Quality of Primary Care Program (PMAQ-AB) and the National Register of Health Facilities (CNES) databases. The results showed an essential centralization in drug dispensing over PMAQ-AB cycles 2 and 3. In contrast, we identified an improvement in the structural aspects of the UBS pharmaceutical services and an increase in the mean drug availability and the total UBS with drug availability ≥ 80%. Such advances were even more significant in the presence of registered pharmacists at the UBS. We conclude by stating that the presence of pharmacists in the PHC of the Unified Health System (SUS) enhances drug availability and provides better structural conditions for PHC pharmacy services.