Palliative care provided by family and community doctors in primary health care in Brazil: A national survey

• Autor(a) principal: Wassmansdorf Mattos, Caroline
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: D'Agostini Derech, Rodrigo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/2094
• topic: Palliative Care; Primary Health Care; Family Practice; Cuidados Paliativos; Atención Primaria de Salud; Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria; Cuidados Paliativos; Atenção Primária à Saúde; Medicina de Família e Comunidade.

Background: The need for palliative care has increased whitin the scope of primary health care (PHC) in Brazil. Objective: To characterize the practice of palliative care provided by family and community doctors in primary health care in Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional and descriptive study. Family and community doctors of PHC in Brazil answered a self-administered questionnaire, with questions involving the eight domains of the guidelines of National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care. Results: 87 responses from family doctors from 34 Brazilian cities were analyzed. Most respondents (92%) did not have a palliative care discipline at graduation. There is little use of validated tools for the analysis of patients’ pain and functionality. There is little availability of multidisciplinary team trained in PHC. There is a deficit in communication between physicians, patients and family members. There is low availability of medications for symptomatic control of pain and dyspnea in palliative patients in primary care. Conclusion: There is some provision of palliative care in primary health care, but with insufficiency. Difficulties in medical training, poor availability of supplies and human material may hinder a better offer of primary palliative care in Brazil.