Affiliations: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Chemical Sciences.
National University of Córdoba. Argentina | Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, UANL,
Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Av. Universidad s/n, Ciudad Universitaria,
San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León CP 66451, México
Note: [] Corresponding author: S.D. Palma, Haya de la Torre y Medina
Allende, Ciudad Universitaria Edificio Ciencias II, X5000HUA, Córdoba,
Argentina. Tel./Fax: +54 351 5353865 53356; E-mail: sdpalma@fcq.unc.edu.ar;
Internet: http://www.fcq.unc.edu.ar
Abstract: The community pharmacy is an excellent place to identify those with
undiagnosed diseases and refer them to their health professionals for treatment
and continuing care. However the process of implementation of campaigns and
activities to this end in community pharmacy has been slow and implemented by a
pharmaceutical minority. It is crucial understand what are the barriers to
participation, in order to design enabling actions to achieve greater adherence
of pharmacists in these activities. In order to identify and analyze the
elements that hinder the dissemination, implementation and sustainability of
pharmaceutical services aimed at the promotion and prevention, in the Argentine
community pharmacies, a participatory diagnosis workshop was designed. Although pharmacists stressed that the absence of such professional activities entails a
deterioration of pharmacists' image recognition in society, they expressed lack
of constancy, economic incentive, specific training in the subject, time and
physical space as own barriers to implementation thereof. Pharmacists think
that these limitations are generally not taken into account when designing or
planning campaigns. The university, must encourage interaction and involvement
of different actors (patients, caregivers, family, health professionals) in
order to engage them in solving the issues together and that they design
activities according to local characteristics, to create actions and benefits
that can be sustained in the long term.
Keywords: Community pharmacy services, health promotion, early diagnosis
