HOSPITALIZATION IN THE PANDEMIC: Perspectives of undiagnosed patients with covid-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world since it was decreed in March 2020. As a result, studies have been produced with people who had the disease. However, there are gaps about the repercussions of the pandemic for people who had to be hospitalized for health treatments. Therefore, the objective of the study was to describe the perspective of patients, without a diagnosis of Covid-19, on the hospitalization experience, during the pandemic, marked by the absence of vaccines. Therefore, a qualitative-descriptive study was carried out, with a social constructionist methodological orientation, in which semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 patients who were hospitalized in a public university hospital. The content of the interviews resulted in the construction of the themes: repercussions of hospitalization and the hospital as a place of care. The results show that the participants experienced feelings of fear and a sense of isolation, which were alleviated with the support between patients, professionals and religiosity/spirituality, presenting social support as an important coping resource. In addition, the suffering experienced by the participants seems to have been amplified and intensified by the pandemic, drawing attention to mental health care.