Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to analyze institutional support among the teams that joined the Program for the Improvement of Access to and Quality of Primary Care. Data were collected from February to October 2014 from the program’s external evaluation database. The sample comprised 2941 respondents from module II, and the 22 managers who replied to module IV (on line). The variables were analyzed through descriptive statistics, using the IBM SPSS software, and the results were organized and grouped into three dimensions: Characteristics of the institutional support; the work of the institutional supporter, and management support in work process management and planning. It was noted that there is support in basic care; however, a normalizing and bureaucratic trait was identified in the actions supported. The institutional supporter was evaluated positively, although being overwhelmed by the excessive number of teams under their responsibility, evidencing the need for sizing that takes into account the way the support function operates. Due to the collection instrument’s characteristics, it was not possible to identify the interviewees’ concept of support, this being a limitation of the study.

This study proposes to present the experiences in the work of the community health agent that integrate the intersubjective relations in the territory. Their bonds with the community come from their involvement with the same difficulties the population they attend faces. The goal was to analyze the daily practices the community health agent experiences in the Family Health Strategy territory, with emphasis on community relations and on the bonds that are maintained. This study’s approach involved a qualitative critical-reflective perspective carried out in the city of Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil, from 2011 to 2013. Eleven community health agents and 22 users of two Family Health Strategy teams participated. Semi-structured interviews, systematic observation, and focus groups were used as data collection techniques. The data were analyzed under the assumptions of critical hermeneutics. The results show that, in the community health agent’s daily work, the relationships for health care and promotion have ties and affection in community struggles, demands, and in community needs. Information and communication through dialogue give sense and meaning to health practices and improve quality of life. The bonds between users and community health agents are considered powerful and resolutive.

A pesquisa buscou identificar e avaliar os problemas bioéticos envolvidos no cotidiano de trabalho de profissionais de duas equipes da Estratégia Saúde da Família. Neste estudo qualitativo, realizaram-se entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas com 16 profissionais da equipe de saúde da família de Salvador, Bahia, de fevereiro a outubro de 2015. Utilizou-se a análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin, assim como a bioética principialista e o pensamento complexo de Edgar Morin. Identificaram-se duas categorias: ‘Problemas bioéticos no cotidiano de trabalho da equipe de saúde da família’ e ‘A relação interprofissional na equipe de saúde da família’. Na primeira categoria, evidenciaram-se falta de companheirismo e colaboração entre os membros da equipe; ações verticalizadas da gestão; dificuldades em preservar a privacidade do usuário e dos profissionais. Na segunda, destacaram-se a disparidade de poder nas relações interprofissionais e o encontro ‘frio’ entre núcleo de apoio e assistência à saúde da família e equipe. Concluiu-se que a equipe de saúde da família não tem avançado no aperfeiçoamento do trabalho em equipe interdisciplinar. Os problemas identificados ferem os princípios do enfoque principialista da bioética, esgarçam o tecido social do trabalho na Estratégia Saúde da Família e contribuem para a descaracterização da atenção básica.

The aim of this study was to analyze how community health agents evaluate the work context and possible factors that contribute to their suffering/illness. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative-qualitative study carried out with health agents from 13 municipalities in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2014. The ‘Work and Risk of Illness Inventory’ sociodemographic questionnaire and interview were used to collect data. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The situations of suffering were related to the lack of professional recognition, an excessive pace, work overload, conflicts with the community, lack of resolution of actions, unavailability of materials and inputs, in addition to the geographic location of the health unit and of the users’ homes, type of health strategy, and management. It was concluded that the health agent’s working environment can cause suffering/illness among these workers.

This article discusses the uniqueness of Brazilian social inequality, which produces a structural ‘rabble’ legitimized by a value hierarchy that segregates people into people and sub-people, citizens and sub-citizens; people who must be seen and respected, on the one hand, and people to be disdained, devalued on the other. Subsequently, we discuss how the social inequality scheme is reproduced in public health, which is considered of poor quality and, in practice, contradicts the constitutional precepts pursuant to which the Unified Health System was created, not benefiting the idealized proposal at its core to ensure inclusive, egalitarian citizenship. Finally, we propose reflections about the role social workers play in public health through the provision of direct service to users, especially through educational actions, considering them as an opportunity to work with the ‘rabble,’ aspects that maintain such class exactly in a situation of sub-citizenship and, therefore, receiving inhumane care from public health services.

This is a qualitative study aimed at analyzing the reasons for job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, as reported by twenty nurses who work in two care models used in basic care in Brazil: The traditional model and the Family Health Strategy. Data were collected between March and May 2013, through triangulation, interviews, and observation; they were organized in the Atlas.ti software and examined based on content analysis. The study showed 25 different reasons for job satisfaction, and 23 different reasons for job dissatisfaction. There was no significant differentiation between the two care models, indicating that they are more related with municipal management and work conditions.

The efficient distribution of health professionals, especially physicians, is one of the main issues public health policy managers face. In an attempt to solve this problem, the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, is increasing the number of medical graduates, including in the interior, and encouraging medical residency programs with more openings and programs. Such actions are strategies for the establishment and provision of medical professionals. The general objective of the study that gave rise to this article was to introduce the medical residency policy as a strategy for training human resources for the Unified Health System and to demonstrate the lack of specialists in gynecology and obstetrics for the Unified Health System of Pernambuco, based on the lack of childbirth care. The results demonstrated an increased demand among physicians for the gynecology and obstetrics specialty over the years, but there is a great concentration of this specialty in the region near the capital city (Recife) and of deliveries in certain locations of the state.

This study was based on the perception of similarities and differences in the theory-practice relationship in the master’s degree courses in academic and professional modes in the Public Health area in Brazil. It was assumed that, in this relationship, the proposals of the professional master’s degree course do not part from the agent’s professional practice as a scenario to build new knowledge and technologies, rather they tend to reproduce the hegemonic training model consolidated in the academic master’s degree course. Based on the ‘academy-professional context relations’, ‘teaching staff,’ ‘final work and justification for the course’ categories, the study was carried out using a qualitative approach through documentary analysis and course proposals, as well as using interviews with course coordinators. Seven colleges offering courses in these modes were selected to deepen the discussion. It is concluded that this relationship is more complex in the professional master’s degree course, and that, as provided for under the legislation, it sought to consolidate an identity that is distinct from specialization and academic master’s courses, a fact that may characterize the main difference between the modes. However, their processes still adopt the same frameworks and practices as the academic master’s degree course.