Challenges and possibilities of health professionals in the care of dependent elderly

Resumen

It investigates the challenges and possibilities of health professionals for the management of care for dependent elderly people in Primary Health Care. A qualitative approach based on the dialectical hermeneutic fusion was used. An interview was carried out with 38 health professionals, from June to December 2019, in eight cities in the five Brazilian regions. From the results, themes emerged about the challenges that professionals face in the management of care for the elderly, the strategies they use and their suggestions for raising the quality of care for the elderly who depend on care. Management failures, structural factors, access barriers, scarcity of inputs, disruption of the network and lack of security, were pointed out as difficulties in directing health protection, prevention and promotion actions. The applied strategies are diverse, trying to articulate the multiprofessional teams, which involve the Family Health Strategy and specialists for the effectiveness of care. Strengthening reception, encouraging home consultation, mobilizing support groups and carrying out health education were among the integrative practices suggested by the participants. Due to the complexity of the object of study, it was evidenced that the professionals recognize the deficiencies in the health services and face undesirable situations due to the lack of qualified personnel in the teams, as well as due to the insufficiency of materials and transportation.