It is better at home: characterization of home care services

Abstract

Objective to characterize the Home Care Services in operation in Paraíba. Method this is a descriptive, exploratory, quantitative research. Data collection was conducted between March and June 2020 with professionals and coordinators of Home Care Services in 17 municipalities of Paraiba using Google Forms sent by email. Data were statistically analyzed using absolute and relative frequencies. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. Results 14 teams (61%) were active from Monday to Friday; 16 (69.6%) used transportation of care shared with other services; 11 teams (47.8%) did not use electronic patient records and, among those who did, they did so in the format interconnected to the Health Care Network or in communication only with the Home Care Service (34.8%; 17.4%). As for the Singular Therapeutic Project, 13 teams (56.5%) prepared it. The reference and counter-reference process occurred only at admission and discharge in 19 teams (82.6%). Conclusions and implications for the practice it was evidenced the need for adjustments in the operation of the service and improvements in technological resources, communication and transportation to be implemented by public management for the qualification of home care.