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Characterization of pharmacy services in Portuguese prisons: a national survey

Liliana Alexandra Monteiro Guerra (based at Pharmacy Department, Special Prison Santa Cruz do Bispo, Porto, Portugal)
Paula Façanha da Cruz Fresco (Associate Professor, based at Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Phamacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal)

International Journal of Prisoner Health

ISSN: 1744-9200

Article publication date: 29 November 2013

148

Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to collect reliable information to characterize the pharmacy services in Portuguese prisons. The secondary purpose is to develop a set of suggestions for improving these services and, therefore, improve the health services provided to the inmate population.

Design/methodology/approach

A three pages survey was developed that included questions covering the characterization of prison health teams, pharmacy services and pharmacy activities. This survey was sent to all Portuguese prisons, with capacity higher than 50 prisoners. The response rate was of 87.5 per cent.

Findings

It was found that only 6.1 per cent of prisons had pharmacists and that in 63 per cent the guards still participated in pharmacy activities. There were not Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committees in 94 per cent of prisons and 94.4 per cent did not present adequate storage conditions for drugs. Only 51.7 per cent of prisons had computers in the pharmacy and only 3.4 per cent had access to the internet. This study found that there is a gap between public and prison pharmacy services, since most prison pharmacies in Portugal are solely locals of storage and distribution of drugs, with no effective management nor promotion of drug rational use.

Originality/value

This paper is the first study about pharmacy services in Portuguese prisons. The information collected could be very useful to improve the Portuguese prison pharmacy services provided to prisoners.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Prof Joaquim Monteiro, for the fruitful discussions and suggestions.

Citation

Alexandra Monteiro Guerra, L. and Façanha da Cruz Fresco, P. (2013), "Characterization of pharmacy services in Portuguese prisons: a national survey", International Journal of Prisoner Health, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-04-2013-0016

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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