Relação entre a saúde digital e o processo de trabalho : a percepção de fisioterapeutas de um centro especializado em reabilitação

Abstract

Introduction: Throughout Brazilian history, People with Disabilities have been socially neglected. The scenario in the country begins to change, the cause of disability begins to be understood under the influence of its social determination, and the person with a disability begins to be seen in a more integral way. In Brazil, in order to expand the comprehensive view of PWD, the federal government published the Plano Viver sem Limite – National Plan for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011. In 2012, the CERs were created to be a reference in health care within the territory and aiming to expand access and quality of health services aimed at PWD. The construction of comprehensive care in CERs requires a review of the work process of the professionals who make up their teams, including physiotherapists. Currently, work processes rely on a new resource that sometimes helps them: technology. In health work, we can see the increasingly frequent presence of Digital Health tools, which help professionals in their daily lives. Objective: This work seeks to understand the relationship between digital health tools and the work process of physiotherapists at a CER. Methodology: This is a qualitative and exploratory case study, guided by Thematic Content Analysis. The field research had as its locus a CER in Paraíba, a reference in the habilitation and rehabilitation service in the four areas of disability. Physiotherapists, of both sexes, who provide care to PWD at the CER, and who were available for face-to-face interviews, and who had some experience with digital health tools, were included. A semi-structured interview guide with guiding questions was used as an instrument for data collection. To analyze the collected data, Thematic Content Analysis was used, carried out in three stages: 1. Pre-analysis; 2. Exploration of the material or coding; and 3. Treatment of results obtained/interpretation. Results: 18 physiotherapists carried out the interviews, who work in two sectors within the CER. The first of them, aimed at screening and diagnosis; and the second sector, aimed at serving people with physical disabilities. As these are professionals from different coordinations of the same CER, we observed the characteristics of two different work environments. The research findings revealed, in terms of characteristics of the teamwork that takes place there, that there is interprofessional collaborative work. The data reveals that the organization of work at the CER, together with the lack of equipment, have been the main obstacles for professionals to make adequate and continuous use of the digital tool and its potential to interact in their work process. An important point to be considered when we talk about the topic of digital health is the fact whether or not professionals are “computerized beings”, a term used by one of the interviewees to define their greater proximity to the area of computing and technology, whose impacts are reflected in the defenses adopted, which are limited and ineffective in the long term. Final considerations: The difficulty that some CER professionals encounter in operationalizing the system is not exclusively an age or generational issue, there is also a problem of Digital Identity. Investments in training and physical resources are necessary to better establish this relationship and address its effects on the work process and organization.