The inclusion of the psychologist and the demand for psychological care

conceptions of the multidisciplinary team in a cardiology emergency room

Abstract

The inclusion of the hospital psychologist in emergency room is still under construction. The location where the study was conducted is no different, as there is no psychologist constantly present and requests for psychological care to patients occur sporadically. It was considered that the low demand for psychological care for patients was linked to the fact that the multidisciplinary team was unclear about the role of the psychologist and had difficulty identifying the psycho-emotional aspects that mobilize the patient in the context of urgency/emergency. To evaluate this issue, a semi-structured interview was used, in which data were analyzed and categorized based on Bardin’s content analysis methodology. The hypothesis proved to be partially correct, since the team was partially able to identify the role of the psychologist and situations in which their professional performance would be necessary. However, the effective formalization of patient care became secondary for various reasons, such as lack of professional knowledge in this sector, excessive tasks performed by professionals, difficulty in knowing the means of activation of the psychologist and the more distant insertion of psychology in the sector. The identification of these issues showed the importance of a closer insertion of the psychologist in the Emergency Room for the development of a work that favors patient care, family members and an integrated work with the team