Changes in the routines of professionals working in pre-hospital care in the context of the pandemic: integrative review

Abstract

Objective: To identify and analyze in the literature the changes in the operational routines of health professionals working in the Prehospitalar Care (PHC) in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: Integrative literature review, qualitative character. The PICo strategy was used to survey the descriptors consisting of: “Emergency medical services” AND “Health personnel” AND “COVID-19”. The databases were: PubMed, Scielo, VHL, LILACS, Acervo Index Saúde and Cochrane. Including full scientific articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish, published from 2019 to 2021. Content analysis resulted in 03 categories. Results: 124 articles were found and only 6 were selected after the reading steps. 03 categories emerged, defined by: “Insecurity and stressors experienced in the PHC in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic”; “Occupational, physical and biological risks in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic in PHC” and “Changes in operational routines in PHC during the Covid-19 pandemic”. Final considerations: There were several changes in operational routines such as the incidence of new care protocols, increased patient demand, change in the use of Individual Potection Equipment (IPE), increase in the number of patient transfers and in the response time of cases due to the delay in terminal disinfection.