Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, associate professor (EPE/Unifesp), vice-leader of the Study and Research Group on Health Services Administration and Nursing Management (GEPAG), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
Neyson Pinheiro Freire, journalist, member of the Study and Research Group on Health Services Administration and Nursing Management (GEPAG), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to place professionals at the forefront of press agendas in Brazil and worldwide. The documentary study “News on Brazilian Nursing in the Covid-19 Pandemic”, published in the Acta Paulista de Enfermagem scientific journal, provides a forceful analysis of the impact and visibility brought to Brazilian Nursing by journalistic articles during the ongoing health crisis installed in the country in March 2020.
The documentary study, based on 136 reports from mass media in the first quarter of the pandemic (March 16 to May 31), measures the main themes and approaches of the national and international press on the role of nurses and nursing technicians and assistants in the country throughout that period. The articles were selected through clipping and the monitoring of press demands by the Communication Office of the Federal Nursing Council (Cofen).
Its analysis allowed the identification of narrative patterns in three themes: “Vulnerability, illness and death” was the most frequent category, covering more than half (58.8%) of the news. Data generated by the “Nursing Observatory” directly impacted the visibility of the agenda, as revealed in the study in which a correlation between the data generated and the presence of news in the media was detected. The “Working Conditions of Nursing Professionals”, had unprecedented visibility with 30 news of national and international reach in the period. With the evolution of coverage, the “Political and Professional Protagonism of Brazilian Nursing” was addressed in 17.7% of the 136 articles analyzed and also gained prominence.
Image 1: Nurse Jeferson Caproni Hospital Source: Ascom/Cofen Image 2: Category word cloud – Political and Professional Protagonism of Brazilian Nursing Source: Main author
Articles of national and international reach were included, covering media such as TV Globo, Folha de S. Paulo, BBC Brasil, New York Times, The Guardian and El País, whose agendas were supported by Ascom/Cofen. The BBC title, “We take care of others, but nobody takes care of us”, with the testimony of a nurse who got infected while treating a patient, both not wearing masks, reveals the tip of the iceberg, showing the hospital’s unpreparedness and total ignorance about the severity of the disease in Brazil at that time. The article pointed to the urgent need for PPE, a topic that was gaining more space in the media, with records of risks of contagion and deaths of professionals. “The central role of nurses in the face of the pandemic, whether in care or control actions for its mitigation, places them as key actors at the end of the outbreak”, says Neyson Freire, one of the study authors.
The news warned of the precarious working conditions to which these professionals are exposed and contributed to sensitize public opinion about the work of the largest contingent of health workers in Brazil, totaling more than 2.4 million professionals, including nurses and nursing technicians and assistants. “The mobilization of society through dialogue and media visibility contributes to strengthen the agendas of Nursing and Public Health”, highlighted Freire.
CUNHA, I. C. K. O. and FREIRE, N. P. Pandemic brings unprecedented visibility to nursing professionals [online]. SciELO in Perspective | Press Releases, 2021 [viewed ]. Available from: https://pressreleases.scielo.org/en/2021/08/11/pandemic-brings-unprecedented-visibility-to-nursing-professionals/
The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to place professionals at the forefront of press agendas in Brazil and worldwide. The documentary study “News on Brazilian Nursing in the Covid-19 Pandemic”, published in the Acta Paulista de Enfermagem scientific journal, provides a forceful analysis of the impact and visibility brought to Brazilian Nursing by journalistic articles during the ongoing health crisis installed in the country in March 2020.
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