COPING WITH COVID-19 IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: THE ROLE OF THE DENTAL SURGEON IN THE EXECUTION OF RAPID TESTS

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic brought changes in the work process of Primary Health Care professionals, thus, in the municipality in eastern Minas Gerais, dentists contributed to the execution of rapid tests for COVID-19. Objective: To evaluate the performance of dental surgeons, members of the oral health team in the Family Health Strategy, in the execution of Rapid Tests for COVID-19, and the perception of these workers about the work developed during the pandemic. Materials and methods: This is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study that uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The secondary data of the quantitative research were collected from the municipal consolidated containing the total number of rapid tests for COVID-19, in the period from June to December 2020, and were analyzed and tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet. For qualitative research, data collection took place through a questionnaire via Google Forms, with 17 dental surgeons from Primary Health Care who worked in 2020 in Governador Valadares, for analysis, the Bardin technique (2015) was used. Results: The dental surgeon was responsible for performing the majority (67%) of the tests, followed by the nurse (32%) and physician (1%). The interviewees reported that they felt qualified to perform the tests (88.2%); feel that the work developed during the pandemic will change the work process of the oral health team (76.5%); the relationship between the Primary Health Care team improved to 82.4%. The participants demonstrated the ability to adapt to the scenario. Conclusions: It can be concluded that almost all dentists adhered to and performed the rapid tests. The participants expressed feelings that portray the presence of psychological impacts in their lives during the pandemic, but through training, posture and positive coping, they presented the resilience factor that helped them to face a new way of working with the team.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2025.008-014