Changes in the care of the elderly after the enactment of the Elderly Statute according to professionals of a geriatric hospital

Abstract

This study was aimed at finding out how an interdisciplinary team deals with the Elderly Statute and how it interfered in the care of institutionalized elderly. The setting was a geriatric hospital in São Paulo where 297 elderly people reside. Thirty-five professionals from the facility's interdisciplinary team took part in the study and answered a questionnaire with open and close questions. Results were divided into categories and submitted to a descriptive analysis. It was observed that 68.6% of the professionals thought that after the enactment of the Statute there have been changes in the care provided, even if slowly, and that they occurred in the interdisciplinary staff, which went after specialization in order to improve care; in the facilities, which adapted so as to attend to the needs of the elders; and in the elderly people themselves and in their families, whom, feeling protected by the law, increased the demands for their rights.