“The public rely on me a lot”: Rural pharmacists’ perspectives on their roles in oral health care

Objective: To examine rural pharmacists’ perspectives on their roles in oral health in rural communities and collaborations with dental practitioners.

Design: A qualitative research study using face-toface, semistructured interviews. Interview data were thematically analysed with the assistance of Nvivo 10.

Setting: Eleven rural communities across rural Tasmania.

Participants: Twenty community pharmacists.

Results: Five major themes emerged: (i) barriers for patients to access dental services; (ii) oral health presentations to rural pharmacies; (iii) roles of pharmacists in oral health care (subthemes: advice; health promotion; and referrals); (iv) collaborations with dental practitioners; and (v) oral health education and training.

Conclusion: This study suggests that rural community pharmacists had advisory and referral roles in oral health and acknowledged that they could play a greater role in oral health promotion. It was suggested that oral health could be incorporated into existing pharmacy health promotion and surveillance activities. There was a lack of collaboration between pharmacists and dentists or dental services and limited oral health education and training provided to pharmacists. Stronger collaboration between pharmacists and dental practitioners and better oral health training for pharmacists may enhance their role in promoting oral health within rural communities.