[Experiencing diversity through home care of the elderly--challenges and advances]

The present article is a study about the nursing care of elderly people. The diversity of experiences generated by the care of the elderly in their homes has opened news area of research, improved and promoted the nursing care. The objective of this work is to characterize the home-care of elderly as an area of interest for the work of the nursing professionals. The study describes aspects of the dynamics of this work based on a critical analysis of an experience carried out with a group of elderly and pointing out its advances and challenges. The methodology used in this investigation were records of the experience of some elderly people who had undergone surgery and were still in need of nursing care at their homes. Results show that there were improvements in terms of the nursing practices, especially the practices of educational and ethic-legal nature. The practices of educational nature could propitiate a sense of citizenship and freedom, which are prerogatives for the lives of these people. The ethic-legal practices promoted more involvement of the nursing professionals in the interdisciplinary team.