The Impact on Social Worker’s Work in Hospital Health in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review

Abstract

The work of the social worker in health during the COVID-19 pandemic period has been the subject of debates and academic productions about the category’s professional performance in Brazil. Significant considerations were given to changes in work processes and service flows, such as the call centre modality, issues that pervade the professional ethical and political dimensions, along with daily interprofessional relations in each social space. Therefore, the goal of this study was to conduct an integrative review of published articles that highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of health social workers at a time when the category was on the “front line” of serving the population. The methodology employed was a bibliographic survey of articles published in Brazil that were fully available in the databases Scielo, Lillacs, BVS, Portal CAPES, PUC, UFRJ, and Google Scholar. Four articles from experience reports that met the inclusion criteria were chosen and analysed. The findings show that social workers in the country were committed to ensuring population access to clinical protocols and changes in flows appropriate to the pandemic and guided by WHO - World Health Organization, in accordance with the legal bases present in its specific legislation, the principles of the Code of Ethics and the Political Ethical Project, the Parameters of Action of Social Workers in Health, as well as the guidelines of the CFESS-CRESS.