Abstract
Despite all the advances in modern medicine, many diseases and chronic health conditions cannot be cured. Chronic progressive and life-limiting health situations are more common in adults and the elderly, but may occur at all ages. Infants with complex chronic conditions (CCC) have clinical weaknesses, high morbidity and mortality rates and, therefore, demand sensory transformations about health care. This paper aimed to explore the challenges arising from the care of chronically ill babies and those who are subject to technological dependence from the perspective of health professionals (doctors, nurses and nursing technicians), seen as subjects capable of psychic elaboration and transformation of their professional practices. The experience of health professionals was approached from a qualitative study in a referral hospital in Rio de Janeiro in 2015, from interviews with 15 health professionals and participant observation. The analysis of the empirical material, dialogued between the French psycho-sociological clinical approach and the contributions of psychoanalysis, recognized and valued the challenges of care practice and the psychic repercussions on health professionals. We sought an in-depth understanding of the reality studied and the uniqueness of everyday experience, which was central to the appreciation of the psychic elaboration and the production of meanings of the subjects.
Keywords:
health care; chronic illness; babies; palliative care; pediatrics