Tele-Pharmaceutical Care consists of providing clinical pharmaceutical services remotely, through the use of information and telecommunications technologies, with the potential to improve health outcomes and reduce problems related to the use of medicines. The additional advantages of telepharmacy include cost-effectiveness, enabling access to the pharmaceutical monitoring service and the possibility of reaching people in remote locations and in health conditions that limit mobility. Considering this new paradigm for the provision of pharmaceutical services, as well as the current pandemic picture issued by the new coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), on May 5, 2020 was launched by the State Health Departament of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, a program for the implementation of Pharmaceutical Care, CUIDAR +, and the first service: Pharmaceutical Care. The aim of this study is to present how the Pharmaceutical Tele-care service was structured and offered to combat COVID-19 as an emerging strategy. The service was developed based on the evaluation of the health needs of users of the Special Medicines Pharmacy in Porto Alegre and defined through service modeling. Patients with chronic respiratory diseases were organized to follow up, providing guidance regarding the correct use of medications, optimizing adherence to treatment and providing guidance regarding questions related to COVID-19.
Keywords:
Telehealth; Pharmaceutical care; COVID-19; Asthma; Telecare