SOCIAL WORK IN HIGH-COMPLEXITY HOSPITAL CARE: REFLECTIONS ON SOCIO-ASSISTANTIAL PRACTICE IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS

Abstract

The practice of social workers in Intensive and Semi-Intensive Care Units constitutes the central theme of this study, which is characterized as a qualitative, exploratory-analytical literature review grounded in the critical-dialectical method. The research aimed to analyze professional praxis in high-complexity hospital settings, identifying qualified listening strategies, the socio-assistential support provided to families, and the institutional challenges arising from job precariousness and the biomedical model. The methodology involved a systematic literature search across databases and institutional repositories, selecting publications that connect Social Work to intensive care and public health. The results show that qualified listening acts as an indispensable ethical-political and technical-operative instrument to break with the objectification of the subject, recognizing patients and their families as rights holders. It was also found that social support enables access to social security, welfare, and labor benefits in the face of the socioeconomic impacts of critical illness, connecting the institution to social protection networks. It concludes that, despite the limitations imposed by the underfunding of the Unified Health System, workload overload, and lack of infrastructure, the social worker's intervention and performance in the Multiprofessional Health Residency reaffirm the human dimension and social justice in the hospital environment.