COVID-19 in oncology palliative care: psychological stress from the perspective of psychodynamics at work

Abstract

Background: Identify the main stressors of the nursing team in assisting patients in oncology palliative care with suspicions and confirmed for COVID-19. Methods: Qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study with theoretical framework in the psychodynamics of work, carried out in the emergency and hospitalization sector of a national reference center for cancer treatment in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil. The semi-structured interview was used to collect the data, from April to May 2020. The data were organized and analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method with the aid of the Qualiquantisoft® software. Results: Twenty members of the nursing team participated (10 nurses and 10 nursing technicians). After the analysis, three CSDs with their respective central ideas (CI) emerged. The CSD software, Qualiquantisoft®, also provided a quantitative analysis of the responses, in which 12 (60%) of the respondents believe that the main stressors are associated with work organization, 6 (30%) of the respondents believe that the main stressors are associated to work relationships and 2 (10%) of respondents believe that the main stressors are associated with working conditions. Conclusions: The adaptations that took place in the management of care and in the organization of work, to better serve patients in oncology palliative care with suspicions and confirmed for COVID-19, brought greater impact and psychological stress on the nursing team. Considering all the difficulties and influences that the nursing team members are facing in this pandemic moment by COVID-19 associated with palliative oncology care, it is believed that identifying the source of the psychological stress presented by them may contribute to them have a more effective, humanized and holistic care, in addition to spreading knowledge to nursing and other segments of the health area and bringing subsidies to other scientific productions, as well as highlighting the importance of early detection of psychological stress as a way of preventing impacts physical and psychosocial problems caused by work.