O trabalho dos(as) assistentes sociais em tempo de pandemia da covid-19: o caso de um hospital regional em Pernambuco

Abstract

This dissertation has as its central theme, the work of the social worker in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of a regional hospital in Pernambuco. In the context, it brings to light the consulaughts of reform and counter-reform of the Brazilian State and its repercussions in the labor Market, in life in society, with series implications for users of health services, which also affects the work of social workers. It is in this context that the consequences of the social issue, the object of social workers' efforts, gain materiality through their interventions and implementation of social policies, among them the guarantee of access to the Unified Health System (SUS). In this sense, the general objective of this piece is to analyze the working and health conditions of social workers working in urgent and emergency care at a regional hospital. Thus, the specific objectives of the research were: to describe the working conditions and protection factors for social workers at a regional hospital; to analyze the duties and competence of the social worker in hospital care and the challenges in coping with COVID-19. The theoretical elaborations that supported the research are based on social theory and critical apprehension of working conditions in a context of structural crisis. The research was developed using a literature review on the working conditions of social workers during the pandemic, and a semi-structured interview, with a script divided into three blocks: socioeconomic and demographic profile of social workers, characteristics of working conditions and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on social workers health, with 11 social workers linked to the hospital unit as research subjects. The results point out that the work of social workers is carried out in a context of insufficient material resources and precarious working conditions, taking into account the institutional and conjuncture developments. We also identified that the work of social workers, in these last three years, gained a certain visibility in the face of sanitary, socioeconomic and political chaos experienced by the population. The debate was necessary not only for the scientific collection of Social Work, but also to think about work in the hospital environment, aiming at the importance of rights and access to information for SUS users.