Nursing Students’ Experiences and Perspectives on Institutional Care for Elderly in Totally Dependent Persons

Abstract

Objective: To learn the perspectives of nursing students on geriatric care provided in a public home for the aged. Method: Qualitative study - grounded theory. Nineteen students who performed social service at a home for the aged between 2020 and 2021 in the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, were interviewed based on the criteria of theoretical saturation. The analysis was based on Strauss and Corbin’s proposal and was triangulated with the field diary records. Results: the central emerging category was “Non-humanistic care”, the organization and implementation of care obey more to administrative issues and protocols developed from the biomedical medicalizing paradigm. Conclusion: the perspectives dehumanize care, there is no recognition of people’s autonomy, and the nursing staff shows weaknesses in psychosocial competences to relate to this population.