title: Rural pharmacy not delivering on its health promotion potential.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the level and perceived quality of health promotion advice received from rural pharmacists.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-administered written survey on access to and quality of pharmacy services in rural Western Australia completed by rural residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rural pharmacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred and eighty-three respondents who regularly used a pharmacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Items in the survey included frequency of receiving prevention advice and satisfaction ratings on health and pharmacy services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-eight per cent of respondents had never discussed exercise or diet with their pharmacist and 65% had never discussed preventing health problems. Receiving good prevention advice predicted satisfaction with health services in general but not satisfaction with pharmacy services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacies are being underutilised with respect to their capacity to deliver heath prevention advice and ways to capitalise on this potential need to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. b.sunderland@curtin.edu.au
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sunderland
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burrows
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McManus
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maycock
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014904:Western Australia