Community Pharmacists and Men's Health in Rural Victoria

Abstract

Background: Men are notorious for not attending to their health and seeking health advice, especially in rural areas. Aim: To ascertain the role community pharmacists can play in men's health in rural Victoria. Method: Self-administered, closed-response written questionnaires were sent to community pharmacists and men in the Loddon-Mallee region of Victoria. Results: The men and pharmacists agreed that community pharmacies could be a useful men's health resource. Half the men thought that the only advice pharmacists gave concerned prescription medications. Men said that the gender of a pharmacist would not affect them seeking advice, yet among their criteria for making pharmacies more 'men friendly' was the provision of more male pharmacists and pharmacy assistants. Both men and pharmacists saw information leaflets as a valuable resource. The men and pharmacists agreed that the service to men could be improved with provision of more information, counselling, education sessions, referral and collaboration with other health professionals, men's health events and some risk factor screening. Pharmacists were confident and reported success in counselling men in some areas (e.g. smoking cessation) but not others (e.g. alcohol use). Some constraints to improving pharmacy services to men were identified including time constraints, lack of remuneration and training. Conclusion: Rural pharmacies could become a useful men's health resource. Time, lack of remuneration and training may be the main constraints.