Discourse and micropower in the intervention with hospitalized elderly people with delirium: reflection on absent narratives

Abstract

In this essay, we analyze the interactions between elderly people (EP) hospitalized with delirium and the health team. To reflect on the construction of these interactions we rely on the philosopher Michel Foucault, in his presentation and book “Order of Discourse”, where we consider how micro-power social relations can be presented in various contexts, landing the interaction described from the strategies and discourse exclusion tactics. It is emphasized mainly i) reason and insanity, identified in EP hospitalized with delirium, which may have a narrative from the neurocognitive disorder, presenting an experience of isolation; on the other hand ii) the health team is based on determining what is true from what is false, using its knowledge and tactics from the process of diagnosis and intervention, which cannot collect the experiences of EP with delirium. Finally, we propose a new construction of the phenomenon from agency realism that integrates the knowledge of the health team and the experience of the EP with delirium.