The vulnerability of the aged for the falls: analysis of the critical incidents

Abstract

Exploratory and descriptive study that aims to characterize the situations of falls in aged people in a community of Programa de Saúde da Família (PSF) from Goiânia. The informations were collected by interview, using the technique of critical incident, and analyzed by qualitative form, also according to the technique and to the elements which characterize the critical incident: situation, behavior and consequence. There were 20 eldery between 60 and 86 years old, who had participated of the study. The fall situations occurred more frequently (70%) at domiciliary circles, demonstrating the vulnerability of the aged in the domicile. The most frequent behaviors were about independence for the self care, represented by the popular knowledge practices. Pain, wound and alterations in physical mobility prevailed as consequences of that. The results infotmations reveal the levels of critical requirement necessary to establish planning of action to prevent the falls in the aged people. It is up to the Family Health Team to evaluate ways to intervene in the community from the knowledge of this reality in order to reduce this event of significant proportion in aged population.