MULTI-PROFESSIONAL HOME VISITS IN PRIMARY CARE: EXPERIENCE REPORT FROM A FAMILY HEALTH TEAM IN BELO HORIZONTE

Abstract

Home Care includes all the actions to promote health that occur in a patient's home, often performed by the Family Care team with the multidisciplinary support of other actors, such as the Mental Care team. Individuals that suffer from mental disorders oftenly present  difficulty in accessing public health services. In this scenario, home care is an alternative to  overcome such barriers. The goal of this article is to present the organizational process of  multidisciplinary home visits performed by Family and Mental Care teams in a Primary Care  Unit in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The methods include bibliographic reviewing the subject; listing patients with severe mental health conditions; defining dates

for the visits; discussing cases; designing singular therapeutic projects; reviewing information and promoting permanent education. The territory where people live brings  important information about this population's health, with special relevance when focusing  on mental health issues. Home visits were defined from group meetings, with the presence of Community Health Agents all throughout the process. All visits were performed with  multiple professionals. Bringing home visits as part of mental health care provides a new  way to access health services for individuals who have historically been left out of these  places. Multidisciplinary home visits also provide stimuli to permanent education in health.  Sharing a home visit with other professionals strengthens the bond with the patient, allows for better understanding of the effects of social determinants of health on a population and easens the construction of therapeutic plans, respecting the individual's singularity.