IMPACTOS PSÍQUICOS E SOCIAIS EM PROFISSIONAIS DE SAÚDE DA LINHA DE FRENTE NO COMBATE À COVID-19

Abstract

In the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers experienced an environment of frequent deaths, high workload, and risks to their health and people close to them, which has been shown to be conducive to the development of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, stress, and insomnia. Therefore, this research aims to understand the psychological and social impacts resulting from work on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19. Five professionals from different areas working during the pandemic were interviewed. The results were analyzed by their contents and discussed in four thematic categories, namely: Emotional impacts of work on the frontlinein the fight against COVID-19; Social impacts on healthcare workers resulting from the pandemic; Self-care strategies developed by the healthcare workers; and Working conditions in the hospital environment in the context of a pandemic. The main results, there were feelings of anguish, sadness, exhaustion, and anxiety; separation from important relationships, including friends and family; as self-care strategies, they ranged from meditation to regular physical exercise; about the professionals' daily work, the precariousness of equipment, and complications with the methodology and workspace emerged as recurrent themes. Given the results, it was evident that the urgency of health actions, the severity of the pandemic, and the need to care for a high number of patients generated working conditions that often took the professionals to the limits of their capabilities. New studies are needed to continue evaluating the impacts of this environment and possible consequences in the medium and long term.