Home visits as an assistance strategy in chronic disease care

Abstract

This study emphasizes the importance of home visits in identifying the characteristics and information on the consequences of chronic renal disease in the life of patients and their families cared for by health workers in the Interdisciplinary Program for Prevention and Care in the Chronic Renal Failure for Children and Adolescents at the University Hospital of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Twenty-one patients were visited and a family memeber of each one was interviewed. Modifications in the family included difficulties when the person caring for the patient had outdoor activities and the changes in eating patterns for the whole family. Home visits showed themselves to be an efficient strategy for care, contributing to the relation between patients, family members and health workers.