Advances and challenges of health care of the elderly population with chronic diseases in Primary Health Care.

This paper analyzes the developments and challenges of healthcare for older adults, especially those with chronic diseases in primary care, in a study setting of a family clinic in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Data were produced through the development of techniques such as participant observation, a focal group with a Family Health Strategy (ESF) team, an interview with the family clinic manager, and interviews with seniors accompanied or not by relatives or caregivers. Worth highlighting is the shift of the biomedical healthcare model to the biopsychosocial model and its implications in elderly care, prevention and health promotion. Despite care advances, some difficulties were observed, especially regarding the access of the population to the service, pointing to the perpetuation of health care inequities. Concerning the elderly with chronic diseases, it is noted that the ESF team employs a set of both individual and group strategies, whose effects were identified in the statements of the older adults, family members and caregivers, who positively qualify the care received. We can conclude that the care process is influenced by a myriad of factors that appear as objects of questioning and intervention in primary care.