Contradicciones sociales expresadas en la práctica de la Atención Farmacéutica Hospitalaria en Cuba

introduction: the clinical functions and the practice of pharmaceutical care at hospital setting are limited in cuba. although there is an approach to the conception of these functions in the current manuals of procedures, the pharmacists mostly carry out administrative and managing functions in addition to those of drug supply. objective: to analyze the social contradictions (causes) that have an effect on the practice of pharmaceutical care at hospital, particularly in santiago de cuba, in order to draw up strategies for improvement of this activity. methods: a tool facilitating the analysis of problems and their solutions, the cause-effect diagram and the weighed voting consensus method were applied to determine the main and secondary causes that hinder the above-mentioned practice at hospital. the main analyzed causes were human resources, methods, management styles, material resources, working means and conditions. results: the results of the weighed voting revealed that the highly weighed causes in descending order were managing methods and styles with 37 points, the human resources with 33 points and the material resources with 18.5 points. conclusions: the identified contradictions mark paths of research to solving the stated problems, which will allow creating a model of principles for the development of pharmaceutical care at hospital setting, on the basis of evaluations and assessments carried out and on the principles of the good practice of pharmacy.