The aim of this study was to understand the perceptions of pharmacy students from a Brazilian public university regarding the Pharmaceutical Assistance (PA) offered by the National Health System, in light of the political and educational context in health, with the aim of enhancing the discussion about education in this field. Final year students were submitted to semi-structured interviews, and the results were interpreted with the aid of Thematic Content Analysis. In spite of some advances, the shared perceptions pointed to a gap in the students' education, regarding their performance in PA. Such education is in a process of consolidation, and there is a need of more adequate methodological teaching strategies, diversification of teaching-learning scenarios in the health services, and greater effort from managers, health professionals and educators.
Pharmaceutical services; Pharmacy education; Health manpower