Access for the elderly to primary health care services: an integrative review

Abstract

Background: With the aging of the population, there is a trend of increase in the number of elderly people with greater needs for assistance in health. The challenge is to ensure access to all of them.Objective: Discussing on access of older persons to primary health care services from an integrative review. Method:Integrative review of literature through the databases CI-NAHL, LILACS, Medline, and Web of Science. The descriptors used were health services accessibility, elderly and primary health care. The instrument of data collection included: article title, journal name, year of publication, database, country, type of study, level of evidence, objectives and key results. There were met 111 published articles, 13 of which were selected for filling the inclusion criteria. Results:The difficulties of access faced by seniors include: limited offer; insufficient number of professionals; quick queries without identifying their needs; opening hours and inadequate, excessive wait time to be answered. The elderly still face external barriers to path-related service, and internal, non-adapted environments to their visual, auditory and limitations. Home care and over the phone, however, can facilitate access. The elderly should also receive information about your health problem and have the opportunity to clarify doubts. Conclusion:It is necessary to recognize the elderly as an individual with distinctive needs for improved access to health care.

Access of older people to primary health care in low and middle-income countries: A systematic scoping review

“…Findings show that most access barriers and enablers pertain to the availability and accommodation dimension, followed by the appropriateness, affordability, acceptability, and then approachability of services. Although described factors match with those reported previously in the literature [9,18], findings are partially consistent with the work of Khanassov et al (2016) who stated that approachability, availability, and affordability are the most evaluated access dimensions and that acceptability and appropriateness of care need further examination [20]. Being informed of available services is a factor that was reported in one study [40] to denote approachability, a dimension that marks the beginning of the healthcare access journey…”

“…They highlighted that those factors vary among people aged between sixty and above, who should not be considered as a homogeneous group [1,15]. Two integrative reviews summarizing the available literature on older people's access to PHC [16,18], included studies from mainly Brazil, as LMIC [16,18] and other developed countries [18]. They both suggest that older people face organizational, cultural, architectural, and geographical barriers constraining their timely access to appropriate PHC.…”

“…While these integrative reviews, summarizing access of older people to PHC, are available, they are limited because they included studies published before 2015. One of them lacks focus on LMICs [18], the other included studies particularly published in Brazil, as a middle-income country [16]. New insight related to the same topic has been gained since the publication of these reviews.…”

Idosos Vinculados À Atenção Domiciliar Da Atenção Primária À Saúde: Caracterização, Morbidades E Acesso Aos Serviços

“…A maior proporção dos idosos recebia VD exclusiva como forma de atendimento e a metade era visitada uma vez ou mais ao mês, evidenciando que essa população demanda maior cuidado tanto dos serviços de saúde, quanto de suas famílias e cuidadores. Existe um aumento na demanda de idosos que procuram pelos serviços de saúde na APS (4) , o que pode impactar em boa parte da amostra não ser acompanhada mensalmente em seu domicílio e uma porcentagem acabando por deslocar-se até o serviço de saúde. Ademais, deve-se considerar que a população do DS em questão é numerosa e com elevada proporção de idosos, o que pode impactar no atendimento ofertado pelos serviços de saúde, considerando a alta demanda populacional.…”

“…Diante dessas particularidades, surgem desafios para os serviços de saúde, que ainda se mostram despreparados para atender às novas demandas de saúde (3) . Nesse contexto, a Atenção Domiciliar (AD) possui grande relevância, podendo ser uma estratégia de acolhimento e de ampliação do acesso aos serviços de saúde ao idoso, considerando as condições de saúde e o contexto em que está inserido (4) .…”