Introduction

The globalization process creates challenges associated with the risks and benefits of new health products resulting from the new knowledge and technologies. However, these technologies have also promoted a demographic transition characterized by an increase of the elder populations, and thus a morbidity burden associated with chronic and degenerative illnesses. Therefore, it has been necessary to develop new assistance modalities, such as home care, in order to better respond to the needs and characteristics of these populations.

Objective

to describe the development of the home care dedicated to the elder populations in Chile, making an emphasis on home hospitalization and the nursing professional role, as a response to the demographic and epidemiologic changes resulting from the globalization process.

Development

the growth of the elder populations demands that nursing professionals augment their communication skills within the patient-family binomial, intervene in favor of the care provider care, promote care skills in the care provider, potentiate the practices of health promotion at home, and develop assisting roles linked to management, education, and research.

Conclusions

home care should be potentiated for these special populations in order to prevent the bad consequences of traditional hospitalizations and also to promote their own self-care practices.