O cuidado de si e do outro: a saúde do trabalhador em foco em tempos de pandemia sob o olhar dos profissionais da estratégia de saúde da família

Abstract

Worker’s Health is characterized as a field of political-ideological practices and interdisciplinary knowledge that take into account the relation between work, health and the environment as determinants of the health-disease process. In the Primary Health Care context, actions in Worker’s Health are still a challenge for managers and health workers, especially in COVID-19 pandemic times, because they require more surveillance and care to the workers’ health in the territory. Thus, the aim of the study is to understand how care was provided for oneself and the other from the perspective of Family Health Strategy professionals in COVID-19 pandemic times, and to characterize the strategies used in this care. This is an exploratory research with a qualitative approach, carried out between June and September 2020, with 16 professionals from the Family Health Strategy in the city of João Pessoa, including physicians, nurses and dentists. The interview technique was used, being guided by a semi-structured script and held through the Skype digital platform. For data analysis, the Thematic Content Analysis technique proposed by Bardin was used. This research stands out for being part of a larger project entitled "Workers' Health in the territory of Primary Health Care: from context to meaning for workers", which was approved by the Research Ethics Committee under CAEE: 87110318.0.0000.5188. The contribution of the pandemic to the worsening of the precariousness of work in the ESF and the lack of promotion, prevention and surveillance actions in TS was observed. Health workers had to reorganize their work processes to face the pandemic, and based on local collective agreements and the support of medical residencies and multidisciplinary health professionals, they self-managed the work. Aiming to maintain health, they developed individual survival alternatives to minimize the impacts that the pandemic imposed on its biopsychosocial and spiritual dimensions, such as monitoring vital signs, maintaining healthy eating, physical exercise, assertive adherence to biosafety measures and the practice of spirituality. Regarding the health care of users-workers, the professionals performed actions to manage the risk of infection by COVID-19; health education actions on disease prevention measures; ensured continuity of care and monitoring of users with chronic diseases through teleservice; and guaranteed time off work for users affected by COVID-19, through medical certificate. All these actions that helped to minimize the risk of spreading the disease in the work environment and in the community and, above all, ensure employability. The study allowed to understand the reality experienced by ESF professionals in pandemic times, denoting the necessity to value this worker, since they had the ability to understand the new demands and reorganize the work process, based on the implementation of new strategies of care for oneself and others in the territory where they work, thus ensuring the continuity of health care.