ABSTRACT
Objective:
to describe the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on counter-referral in an Emergency Care Unit.
Method:
a descriptive, qualitative study conducted with 13 health professionals. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse technique.
Results:
five speeches were extracted from the interviews about the influence of the pandemic on counter-referral which reveal the difficulties in this process: before the pandemic, overcrowding of specific basic health units that were unable to absorb the population demand and a lack of professionals in teams stood out; the difficulty during the pandemic was in relation to prioritizing care for respiratory symptomatic patients in basic units and the use of communication technology in care and scheduling appointments; there is still difficulty in the transpandemic time in providing care in basic units and the consequent overload in the Emergency Care Unit.
Conclusion:
COVID-19 had a negative impact on implementing counter-referral with difficulties in logistics, resources and structure, represented by access for the general population, which was even more limited in basic units due to the pandemic.
DESCRIPTORS:
Nursing research; Qualitative research; Emergency medical services; Referral and consultation; Transitional care; Nursing; Pandemics; COVID-19