Objetive:

To analyze the perceptions of health personnel about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization of a mental health and drug abuse service.

Materials and Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative. A survey designed by the Argentine Drugs Observatory of SEDRONAR (Secretaría de Políticas sobre Drogas de la Nación Argentina) was applied to all the health professionals at Centro Asistencial Córdoba during November 2020.

Results:

According to the perceptions of health personnel, the organization kept admissions open for new treatments and the suspension was only about group therapy benefits during the first moment of lockdown measures, which was reversed by developing therapeutic groups through video calls. Regarding the change in demand for attention, 68, 9% mentioned being totally at odds with the claim that it diminished.

Health personnel perceived a variability in the reasons for consultation and an increase in the demand for attention with a growth in consultations due to self-inflicted violence and substance-related disorders.

Conclusion:

It is possible to conclude that lockdown measures involved a reorganization of services and their modalities of attention. Therefore, it becomes important to prepare mental health services and substance-related disorders to provide the necessary benefits and respond to the demands for attention during this type of critical incidents.

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