Nursing care for elderly institutionalized in palliative care

Abstract

As a result of the growth of the elderly world population, and consequently an increase in the number of individuals with chronic and degenerative diseases, there was an increase in the number of elderly people who came to live in Homes for the Aged. To guide and support the family and help the newly institutionalized elderly to adapt to the life changes imposed by the disease, Palliative Care (PC) is promoted by a multidisciplinary team that must gather skills and have high sensitivity to estimate the necessary care for these patients. A CP philosophy well established, but research in the area, in the growth and consolidation phase, the present work aimed to systematize the existing knowledge about the needs and the determination of nursing CP for institutionalized elderly. It was a descriptive, quantitative research, carried out through a narrative literature review, it was concluded that there is an urgent need for a restructuring of the systems and forms of care for the elderly, mainly to the socio-cultural issue, which is not yet available for this model of the entire population. It was also concluded that new concepts should be discussed and new measures adopted for quality of life, comfort and dignity, with determination of the conduct through treatment in a personal and individualized way, elaborated and assisted by multidisciplinary team.