Nurse's action against factors interfering in the accession of elderly women to Papanicolaou examination

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the role of the nurse in relation to the factors that interfere in the adhesion of elderly women to the Pap smear. METHOD: Integrative review of the literature, exploratory and descriptive with a qualitative approach, carried out between January to September 2017, in which inclusion criteria were used in Portuguese, online, free of charge, available in full in the period 2003- 2016. The sample consisted of 17 articles after a thorough reading of the titles and abstracts. RESULTS: Factors such as shame, fear, taboo, lack of know and other factors related to the health unit, such as difficulties to mark exams and geographical difficulty to reach the unit, contribute to the fact that women do not have adherence to the gynecological preventive exam when compared to women in lower age groups. Linked to this the nurse plays an important role in the prevention of cervical cancer and adherence of these women to the examination through educational measures, active search and qualified and humanized care. CONCLUSION: It is evident how important the nurse's role is to identify the factors that prevent the adhesion of the elderly women to the cervical cancer screening through Pap smears.