Abstract
Objective: To assess comprehensive care in the elderly population, as well as the quality of care in Primary Health Care. Methods: This is an exploratory descriptive study with a quantitative approach, conducted from July to December 2012, in the city of Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. A sample of 130 subjects chosen by drawn was calculated, and data collection was performed at their homes. Results: There were interviewed 130 people, 92 (70.8%) women and 38 men (29.2%), with a minimum age of 60 and maximum of 96 years, with a mean of 72.8, median of 72.0 and a standard deviation of 8.3. Regarding the quality of care ratings of the PHC team, 48.5% (n = 63) of respondents stated this to be good, while 32.3% (n = 42) rated this as fair. Conclusions: In this perspective, one of the most appreciated meanings that were given to comprehensive care by health care professionals refers to holistic knowledge of each patient, resulting in the non-fragmentation of care. Thus, it is noticed that comprehensiveness has some weaknesses that need to be corrected, which shows the need for education and training of professionals assigned to primary health care services.
Highlights
Comprehensiveness has become a principle of the Unified Health System (SUS in Brazil) and a challenge to health professionals, considering that the work of multidisciplinary teams is essential to reach its goal, which shall prioritize the organization of the work process, plan and construct new knowledge, and modify the health care model, so as to provide the elderly people with comprehensive health care
Primary health care aims to provide the elderly people with humanized attention and mentoring, monitoring and domiciliary support, which are able to include family and caregivers, considering local cultures, aging diversities and the reduction of architectural barriers in order to facilitate their access in accordance with the proposal of the Ministry of Health’s Physical Structure Manual, issued in 2006
The interviews were conducted by interviewers graduate students in nursing University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)/FACISA, in the environment and booked individually, after explaining the research objectives, as well as reading and signing the Informed Consent Form (ICF) by the subjects, using the instrument Primary Care Assessment Tool
Summary
Comprehensiveness has become a principle of the Unified Health System (SUS in Brazil) and a challenge to health professionals, considering that the work of multidisciplinary teams is essential to reach its goal, which shall prioritize the organization of the work process, plan and construct new knowledge, and modify the health care model, so as to provide the elderly people with comprehensive health care. Primary health care aims to provide the elderly people with humanized attention and mentoring, monitoring and domiciliary support, which are able to include family and caregivers, considering local cultures, aging diversities and the reduction of architectural barriers in order to facilitate their access in accordance with the proposal of the Ministry of Health’s Physical Structure Manual, issued in 2006 Given that it is essential in all stages of life to adopt interventions that provide supportive environments and promote healthy choices, since they will influence an active aging process [6]. This study aims to assess comprehensive care in the elderly population, as well as the quality of care in Primary Health Care
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