Serviço Social e a Comunicação de Óbito: Um relato de experiência

Abstract

This work, written in the form of an experience report, presents the experience of the resident-author, as a social worker working in a multidisciplinary team to communicate death. Working in more than 30 cases of patients who died between December/2023 and August/2024 as a resident in the Critical Patient Care Program of the Multidisciplinary Health Residency of the Hospital de Clínicas of the Federal University of Uberlândia/MG. This report seeks to integrate theory and practice, based on bibliographic research and the legislation that guides Brazilian Social Service, valuing the training over two years of in-service teaching experience of the resident-author. Communicating death is characterized as a complex task for health professionals in hospital settings, involving a multidisciplinary team with doctors, psychologists and social workers. The role of the social worker in communicating death aims to welcome the patient's family members who are receiving the news of death and to provide social guidance. The report analyzes the role of social workers in communicating deaths, highlighting the scarcity of specific literature, the lack of clear protocols for communicating deaths, and the need for appropriate spaces for this type of care. In view of the above, it highlights the defense of standardization for multidisciplinary care for communicating deaths in appropriate environments and the training of professionals to ensure more humanized support to users of the Brazilian Unified Health System.