O exercício profissional do(a) assistente social na saúde: uma revisão de literatura das práticas em contextos de alta complexidade

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the professional practices of social workers in highly complex hospital contexts, identifying the most recurrent demands and professional responses, verifying whether these responses are aligned with the Code of Professional Ethics and the Ethical-Political Project (PEP). The existence of two projects in dispute – Health Reform versus Privatism – until and after the creation of the Unified Health System (SUS), highlights the need to consolidate the project that strengthens social rights and contributes to confronting the different expressions of the social issue generated by the capitalist system and its profound inequalities. In order to achieve the proposed objective, which is to analyze the work of the social worker, with an emphasis on the actions carried out in the context of high complexity hospitals, a literature review was carried out on the role of the social worker in health, focusing on the actions developed in this context. The research was based on the academic production available in the catalog of theses and dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), covering the period from 2010 to 2023. We observed that the existing literature addresses more the challenges of the profession than, in fact, the actions taken to enable professional responses consistent with the PEP and the Code of Professional Ethics. Furthermore, we observed that medical knowledge is still predominant in practices related to high hospital complexity. We also found that issues such as authorization for companions to enter, distribution of food tickets, reporting of deaths, patient transfers and requests for transport, such as ambulances, continue to be recurring aspects. These challenges reflect the historical, political, economic, cultural and conservative situation in which we find ourselves. The role of social workers in health policy has been and continues to be essential in the fight to guarantee rights. In this context, it is essential that the category develops a health practice that understands its expanded concept, understanding it beyond the absence of disease, and that is aligned with the Code of Professional Ethics and the PEP.