Cargando…

Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the challenges of providing oral health advice/treatment as experienced by non-dental primary care providers in rural and remote areas with no resident dentist, and their views on ways in which oral health and oral health services could be improved for their communities. D...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Barnett, Tony, Hoang, Ha, Stuart, Jackie, Crocombe, Len
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26515687
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009341
_version_ 1782399684300505088
author Barnett, Tony
Hoang, Ha
Stuart, Jackie
Crocombe, Len
author_facet Barnett, Tony
Hoang, Ha
Stuart, Jackie
Crocombe, Len
author_sort Barnett, Tony
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: To investigate the challenges of providing oral health advice/treatment as experienced by non-dental primary care providers in rural and remote areas with no resident dentist, and their views on ways in which oral health and oral health services could be improved for their communities. DESIGN: Qualitative study with semistructured interviews and thematic analysis. SETTING: Four remote communities in outback Queensland, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 35 primary care providers who had experience in providing oral health advice to patients and four dental care providers who had provided oral health services to patients from the four communities. RESULTS: In the absence of a resident dentist, rural and remote residents did present to non-dental primary care providers with oral health problems such as toothache, abscess, oral/gum infection and sore mouth for treatment and advice. Themes emerged from the interview data around communication challenges and strategies to improve oral health. Although, non-dental care providers commonly advised patients to see a dentist, they rarely communicated with the dentist in the nearest regional town. Participants proposed that oral health could be improved by: enabling access to dental practitioners, educating communities on preventive oral healthcare, and building the skills and knowledge base of non-dental primary care providers in the field of oral health. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention is a cornerstone to better oral health in rural and remote communities as well as in more urbanised communities. Strategies to improve the provision of dental services by either visiting or resident dental practitioners should include scope to provide community-based oral health promotion activities, and to engage more closely with other primary care service providers in these small communities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4636644
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-46366442015-11-13 Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study Barnett, Tony Hoang, Ha Stuart, Jackie Crocombe, Len BMJ Open Health Services Research OBJECTIVES: To investigate the challenges of providing oral health advice/treatment as experienced by non-dental primary care providers in rural and remote areas with no resident dentist, and their views on ways in which oral health and oral health services could be improved for their communities. DESIGN: Qualitative study with semistructured interviews and thematic analysis. SETTING: Four remote communities in outback Queensland, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 35 primary care providers who had experience in providing oral health advice to patients and four dental care providers who had provided oral health services to patients from the four communities. RESULTS: In the absence of a resident dentist, rural and remote residents did present to non-dental primary care providers with oral health problems such as toothache, abscess, oral/gum infection and sore mouth for treatment and advice. Themes emerged from the interview data around communication challenges and strategies to improve oral health. Although, non-dental care providers commonly advised patients to see a dentist, they rarely communicated with the dentist in the nearest regional town. Participants proposed that oral health could be improved by: enabling access to dental practitioners, educating communities on preventive oral healthcare, and building the skills and knowledge base of non-dental primary care providers in the field of oral health. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention is a cornerstone to better oral health in rural and remote communities as well as in more urbanised communities. Strategies to improve the provision of dental services by either visiting or resident dental practitioners should include scope to provide community-based oral health promotion activities, and to engage more closely with other primary care service providers in these small communities. BMJ Publishing Group 2015-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC4636644/ /pubmed/26515687 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009341 Text en Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/ This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
spellingShingle Health Services Research
Barnett, Tony
Hoang, Ha
Stuart, Jackie
Crocombe, Len
Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title_full Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title_fullStr Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title_short Non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in Australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
title_sort non-dental primary care providers’ views on challenges in providing oral health services and strategies to improve oral health in australian rural and remote communities: a qualitative study
topic Health Services Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26515687
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009341
work_keys_str_mv AT barnetttony nondentalprimarycareprovidersviewsonchallengesinprovidingoralhealthservicesandstrategiestoimproveoralhealthinaustralianruralandremotecommunitiesaqualitativestudy
AT hoangha nondentalprimarycareprovidersviewsonchallengesinprovidingoralhealthservicesandstrategiestoimproveoralhealthinaustralianruralandremotecommunitiesaqualitativestudy
AT stuartjackie nondentalprimarycareprovidersviewsonchallengesinprovidingoralhealthservicesandstrategiestoimproveoralhealthinaustralianruralandremotecommunitiesaqualitativestudy
AT crocombelen nondentalprimarycareprovidersviewsonchallengesinprovidingoralhealthservicesandstrategiestoimproveoralhealthinaustralianruralandremotecommunitiesaqualitativestudy