Medicine dispensation in the prison system: Is pharmaceutical care assured?

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the process of medicine dispensation in prisons. A qualitative study was conducted in seven penitentiaries in Paraíba with 13 health professionals and 43 people deprived of liberty using essential/strategic medicines from February to August 2016. The results were categorized from the perspective of Bardin’s content analysis. Three categories emerged: medicine storage location in the prison system, delivery process in the prison system, and health-related responsibilities with pharmaceutical care. We can conclude that the lack of pharmacies, the legal non-compliance regarding the availability of skilled professionals with technical competencies to perform the dispensation, focusing on the quality/safety standards and relevance of the use and storage guidelines associated with the lack of clarity in the definition of health responsibilities of managers from a government authority, are factors that compromise the policy since they increase the investment, but do not ensure pharmaceutical care in the prison system.