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APPENDIX 1A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF MEDICALENCOUNTERS OF AGED PERSONS AT ANOUTPATIENT CENTRE:A QUALITATIVE APPROACH 1Monica FerreiraFree download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za1. INTRODUCTIONThe medical encounters of aged persons at outpatient departments of generalhospitals can be seen to constitute a sociological problem. From time to timethere are reports in the media of depersonalising treatment received by elderlypersons at these centres. Critics claim that the aged are handicapped in the carethat they receive through these facilities, which is criticised for beingimpersonal, discontinuous and insensitive to the needs and capacities of olderpatients.There is a substantial body of literature pertaining to health care provided atoutpatient departments. Most of these studies, however, are of a positivistic,quantitative nature, planned and constructed from the point of view of healthprofessionals and service providers. Few studies have been undertaken fromthe point of view of patients, a perspective which would suggest studies with aqualitative approach.To evaluate whether the service and treatment provided for elderly persons atan outpatient centre are adequately responsive to the real needs of thesepersons, and how the elderly patients perceive this, an investigation wasundertaken from a patient perspective within a qualitative theoretical andmethodological framework.199