WHAT IS THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN A VIRTUAL MULTI-PROFESSIONAL HEALTH SUPPORT NETWORK?

• Autor(a) principal: Simon, Carolina Russo
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Lima, João Pedro Pereira Caetano de, Ferreira, Ana Silvia Sartori Barraviera Seabra, Guimarães, Raul Borges
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Hygeia (Uberlândia)
• Texto Completo: https://seer.ufu.br/index.php/hygeia/article/view/73367
• topic: Raciocínio geográfico; Visualização geográfica; Interseccionalidade; Geographical reasoning; Geographical visualization; Intersectionality

This study highlights the importance of intersectional geographic reasoning in the multidisciplinary health team of the e-Care-Sentinel project, implemented to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the university community of Sao Paulo State University. Started in June 2021, the project incorporated telehealth as a strategy and was expanded to several specialties in 2022. From the start, the Geography team played a crucial role in the spatial analysis of care, using geographical theoretical traditions to address principles such as location, distribution, connectivity and spatial order. Over time, the intersectional approach was incorporated, enriching the understanding of health inequities through the interaction between different axes of subordination, from a feminist perspective. The results of the project were presented through geographical visualization, including thematic maps, graphs, tables and word clouds. Highlights include the identification of public health facilities in the 24 municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo where the university is located, facilitating the orientation of students, staff, professors and outsourced workers to the public health system. Analysis revealed that white people, females and students were the main users of teleconsultations, while data tabulation identified prevalent symptoms such as loss of appetite, weight loss and persistent COVID-19 symptoms. The expansion of the project and the geographical analysis indicated the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and respiratory diseases. This article concludes by demonstrating how the addition of a Geography team to telehealth contributes to the strategic planning of preventive actions, underlining the importance of initiatives that promote health in the university community.