Health Professionals and Perceptions in a Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In 2020, Brazil faced the biggest public health crisis in recent decades. The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) acute infection challenged the national health system and showed many weaknesses that hindered the performance of health professionals. Thus, our goal is to assess the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic among these professionals.
METHODS: Quantitative and qualitative study, with a questionnaire carried out with the help of the Google Forms tool (docs.google.com/forms) and sent electronically to health professionals in April 2020. The following variables were evaluated: professional category, location and the region of work, safety regarding the guidelines for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and its availability, working conditions, the existence of training in the workplace and the psychological aspects experienced.
RESULTS: 197 forms were obtained. In the sample, 58.9% are nurses, 36.5% work in emergency rooms of Emergency Care Units or hospitals, 50.8% did not feel completely safe regarding the guidelines on the use of PPE, 64% reported not receiving the necessary PPEs, 55.3% said they were not prepared for higher demand scenarios, 40.6% of professionals reported that their health units never conducted training involving contingency plans for multiple victim scenarios and 77% of the sample felt stressed or nervous.
CONCLUSION: Health professionals were emotionally vulnerable throughout the pandemic due to the multiple factors that prevented good health care.

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