Saúde e Serviço Social: particularidades e desafios do trabalho profissional na alta complexidade em Manaus

Abstract

This research had as its main purpose to reflect on the work of social workers in public health in high complexity in Manaus, considering the context of State counter-reform and its consequences for the professional work. As specific objectives, the research focused on: characterize the work of social service in high complexity institutions; examine from the point of view of social workers, the relationship between professional work and the competencies and attributions of social service and understand the resistance strategies drawn by the category before the difficulties that constitute the professional daily life. To reach the objectives, the methodological path involved bibliographical research, documentary research and field research, the latter having been carried out remotely with the support of the Google Forms Platform. This research was guided by the historical and dialectical materialism and is characterized by a quantitative and qualitative approach. For data collection, an electronic questionnaire was sent to the social workers of the 5 hospitals selected for the research. The results revealed that the main professional activities reside in the axis of direct care to users, such as social interviews, bedside visits and social welfare referrals. The research identified difficulties in team planning, with the absence of a work plan in most of the institutions analyzed. It was also evidenced that many demands referred to the social service are constituted as competences and attributions alien to the social workers' professional work, which has been creating a field of tension for the professionals, calling them to a constant reaffirmation of their real attributions in the health policy, assuring the social meaning of the profession. Finally, the research pointed out that the work of social workers has also been challenged by the health crisis of COVID-19, a context that redefined the flow of care in the high complexity health units of the capital, and that has potentiated welfare demands for social workers, requiring the creation of collective strategies and resistance by the professionals.