Ethical aspects related to the effective communication process during pandemic COVID-19 : integrative review

The COVID-19 epidemic began in January 2020, when, in a short period of time, it reached several countries, being considered a pandemic on March 11st, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The high spread of the virus, the mortality rate ranging from 2 to 15%, the high number of cases and the rapid evolution of severe cases, led to a sharp increase in hospital admissions, the use of intensive care resources and deaths. 1 Effective communication has become a challenge in the pandemic due to the sanitary measures put in place to Received on: 11/30/2020 Approved on: 02/02/2021 ABSTRACT | Objective: Investigate the production of literature on the communication of the health team with patients and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This is an integrative review carried out in the VHL, PubMed and Scopus databases, using the health science descriptors (DeCS): Coronavirus, Bioethics and Communication. Results: 139 articles were obtained, with 6 articles selected for analysis of this review. The most common findings were: challenges in the communication process, especially among the most vulnerable populations, such as oncology, palliative care and intensive care unit patients; at the other end, strategies aimed at mitigating this problem, such as alternative methods of communication, which include a video component. Conclusion: Effective communication was compromised during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring the creation of protocols based on ethical and bioethical parameters according to the values of each society.