Characteristics of the elderly people with needs palliative care of primary health care: Characteristics of the elderly people with needs palliative care of primary health care

• Autor(a) principal: Lima, Ana Beatriz de Almeida
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Soares de Souza, Elizabeth Moura, Figueiredo Trezza, Maria Cristina Soares, Almeida, Alda Graciele Almeida Claudio dos Santos, Dantas, Hallana Laisa de Lima
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Enfermagem Atual In Derme
• Texto Completo: https://revistaenfermagematual.com/index.php/revista/article/view/604
• topic: Atenção Primária à Saúde; Cuidados Paliativos; Saúde do Idoso; Qualidade de Vida; Enfermagem.; Primary Health Care; Palliative Care; Health of the Elderly; Quality of life; Nursing.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of the elderly indicating the need for palliative care in primary health care. Method: quantitative, observational, descriptive study conducted at the home of 55 elderly people attended by a family health unit located in a Northeast city, from June 7 to July 8, 2019. For data collection, we used a form with questions related to sociodemographic and health characteristics was also applied, and the Katz, Geriatric Depression and Mini Mental Examination scales were also applied. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 and presented in tables. Results: 60% of the elderly were female, 65.5% illiterate, 56.4% were in the age group of 60 to 69 years, had no cognitive deficit or depressive symptoms, 76.4% were independent to perform to the basic activities of daily living, 67.3% reported feeling pain, 96.4% reported having comorbidities, prevailing hypertension, 21.8% used polypharmacy. Conclusion: The presence of comorbidities and pain were the indicative characteristics of palliative care in the elderly attended at primary care, indicating that this rapidly growing population already needs such care.