Difficult patients in primary health care: between care and order

Abstracts

This study was aimed to understand nurses and doctors ethical deliberation related to difficult patients in Primary Health Care (PHC). It used a comprehensive approach, based in the methodological theoretical framework of deliberative Bioethics, using semi-structured interviews and practical wisdom as the analytical category. Seventy PHC professionals in São Paulo were interviewed between 2002 and 2010. The results show that intermediary courses of action tend to a trade-off between two values: care and planning. In the case of extreme courses of action, nurses tend more to care and doctors to planning. We conclude that difficult patients are common in PHC and health professionals tend to have courses of action in order to assist them without disturbing the routines of services, of other professionals and of users.

Professional practice; Nurse patient relation; Physician-patient relations; Primary Health Care