Elderly Welcoming in Primary Health Care: The user Perspective

Objective: Our aim herein has been to describe the elderly insight into the welcoming process in primary health care. Methods: It is a descriptive and exploratory study having a qualitative approach. The data were collected through semi-structured interview applied to 15 elderly registered in a Basic Health Unit in the city of Teresina-PI, Brazil, from January to February 2016. Data analysis has been done according to Bardin's perspective. Results: The results showed two categories, as follows: I) Welcoming is fulfilling the elderly affective needs; nonetheless, both the positive and negative aspects related to the welcoming were mentioned. II) In the speeches it was evidenced that the welcoming, as required by the National Policy of Humanization, is still under construction, which is in its very early stage and mainly related to the act of welcoming the user. Conclusion: The welcoming process is a challenge for managers and health teams regarding the perspective of an integral care, and at the same time fulfilling the elderly needs.