Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health surveillance work

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged managers and exposed weaknesses in health systems. In Brazil, the pandemic emerged amid difficulties to work in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and in health surveillance (HS). The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on the organization, working conditions, management, and performance of HS, according to the perception of capital city managers from three regions of Brazil. This is an exploratory, descriptive research with qualitative analysis. The Iramuteq software was used in the treatment of the textual corpus and analysis of descending hierarchical classification, which generated four classes: characteristics of HS work during the pandemic (39.9%), HS organization and working conditions during the pandemic (12.3%), effects of the pandemic on work (34.4%), and the class of the health protection of workers and the population (13.4%). HS implemented remote work, expanded work shifts, and diversified its actions. However, it faced difficulties with personnel, infrastructure, and insufficient training. The present study also pointed out the potential for joint actions concerning HS.