TELEMEDICINE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE LABOR AND HEALTH OF MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze, from the perspective of the Psychodynamics of Work, the organization of work, labor relations, and the subjective mobilization of physicians working in telemedicine and digital platform contexts, considering the impacts on mental health. As a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory study, semi-structured interviews were carried out. The findings revealed precarious employment relationships, outsourcing, work intensification, professional insecurity, lack of institutional recognition, and the weakening of labor relations. Although participants acknowledged benefits associated with flexibility, time management, and technological convenience, they also reported suffering related to social isolation, clinical insecurity, and the loss of the relational dimension of care. Coping strategies such as psychotherapy, physical activity, social support, and the reorganization of daily routines were adopted to preserve mental health. The results indicate that telemedicine has ambivalent effects on work. When embedded in contexts of labor precarization, it appears to be associated with factors that require particular attention regarding workers’ mental health.