Community Health Agent: a professional world in search of consolidation / Agente comunitário de saúde: um mundo profissional em busca de consolidação

Abstract The contribution of community health agents (CHAs) is strategic for overcoming the biomedical health model. However, weaknesses in defining the specific roles of this profession impose contradictions and impediments to this work, making it difficult to construct the professional world of CHAs. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the tasks performed by the CHAs to reveal the objects, values, and tools, used by these workers to help consolidate their professional world. This study is a qualitative research study guided by the principles of activity ergonomics that include documentary analysis, systematic observations, and interviews. The results showed that due to the myriad of activities performed by the CHAs, the professional world of these workers is not fully delineated. However, it is believed that the results, analysis, and discussion of the data verified in this research, can support the consolidation of the professional world of the CHAs.

Resumo A contribuição do trabalho dos ACS tem sido apontada como estratégica para superação do modelo biomédico de produção de saúde. No entanto, fragilidades na delimitação dessa profissão impõem contradições e impedimentos a esse trabalho, dificultando a construção do mundo profissional dos ACS. Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar as tarefas realizadas pelos ACS no intuito de revelar objeto, valores e ferramentas usadas por esses trabalhadores que ajudem na consolidação do seu mundo profissional. Trata-se de pesquisa qualitativa norteada pelos princípios da Ergonomia da Atividade, que contou com análise documental, observações sistemáticas e entrevistas. Os resultados demonstraram que em virtude de distintas e inúmeras atividades executadas pelos ACS, o mundo profissional desses trabalhadores não está plenamente delineado. Contudo, acredita-se que o resultado, análise e discussão dos dados apurados nesta pesquisa são capazes de apontar elementos que servem para apoiar a consolidação do mundo profissional dos ACS.

The role of experience in night work: Lessons from two ergonomic studies.

The purpose of this article is to analyze some connections between experience, health and work, especially in the field of night work. As a result of the baby boom, the proportion of elderly workers is steadily increasing, while at the same time many workers are reaching retirement age and being replaced by younger people. And, in the same time, there is an overall gradual increase in shift work and night work. To our knowledge, worker experience has not been extensively studied in this context. This was our focus in studying work activity in two very different situations, in a hospital and in a steel industry. In these two studies we observed that the experienced workers endeavor to plan ahead, especially at night. They do this to limit fatigue and to avoid emergencies and ensure that work is stress-free and as far as possible under control. But experience not only brings workers to plan ahead, it also enables them to do so, thanks to the resources it confers: gaining familiarity with tasks and acquiring the ability to identify critical situations, gaining knowledge about themselves and awareness of situations that cause difficulty; and gaining a better overview of the collective aspects of their work and of ways to share tasks or obtain assistance. They are able to undertake these strategies thanks to specific skills and capacities they have built along their professional career, which notably leads them to find the best trade-off between several goals, possibly contradictory. Such experience is especially valuable at night, when the worker is tired, and when there are fewer supervisors present. This experience can only be gained, however, if the work environment fosters its acquisition and provides an opportunity to make use of it, especially during the night shift and especially with respect to planning tasks ahead of time.