TELEMEDICINE ACTIONS – VIRTUAL HOME VISIT (DV) IN PANDEMIC TIMES (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Introduction: from the declaration of a pandemic, by the World Health Organization, life was reconfigured in different ways, with isolation and social distance, quarantine, hygiene care, among others. This impacted the health-disease process, generating emotional and social suffering, as well as doubts about the disease and the care that must be taken. Understanding digital literacy as a powerful ferment in health promotion, the UNIDAVI Medicine course planned an extension project, "Telemedicine Actions" that uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in welcoming the community, as an alternative to visiting conventional home care, consisting of offering reception and guidance on healthy practices and care to users of Primary Health Care (PHC) services in the city of Rio do Sul/SC, during the Covid-19 pandemic. This project takes place with the application of a Virtual Home Visit (VDV) protocol, proposed based on the principles and guidelines that underlie the SUS (Unified Health System). This way, VDV is characterized as Telemedicine action, defined as the exercise through interactive methodologies of audiovisual and data communication, with the objective of assistance, education and research in health (CFM, 2002). Objectives: - Put into practice “health education”, one of the three guiding axes of training provided for in the National Curriculum Guidelines for the Medicine course. - Offer reception and qualified listening and guide on healthy practices and care of users of PHC services, in the municipality of Rio do Sul/SC, during the pandemic, temporarily and on an exceptional basis. Experience or action report: the population covered is composed of three thousand families, registered in the PHC services. With the list of patients and their data (name, age, gender, telephone and health unit belonging), made available by the Municipal Health Department of Rio do Sul (SMS-RS), students, assisted by their teachers, keep in touch with patients, through audio and/or video calls, via the WhatsApp application. A specific questionnaire was applied in order to guide and offer reception, featuring an education and health promotion action. Reflection on the experience: the perception is that the families feel: recognized as active subjects; mobilized for the readaptation of daily life, in order to create safe and comfortable environments for family life; assisted and cared for in their health related to Covid-19 and flu vaccination; encouraged to self-care in health; emotionally supported and motivated to regain a sense of connection with other people, albeit in other ways; welcomed in their health problems, that is, that they know that possible referral needs will be made, in order to guarantee the resolution of PHC. Conclusion: telemedicine, through VDV, in this experience, proved to be a powerful health promotion tool, strengthening links between the actors in the process, showing that the use of ICTs can, contrary to what is often claimed, strengthen the humanization of medicine.