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

The National Policy on Continuing Education in Health was established in 2004 as the National Health System's strategy for human resource training. A Ministry of Health ordinance set guidelines for its implementation, reinforcing the technical Health System schools as priority institutions in coordinating and implementing the training of mid-level workers. This article was based on the results of a qualitative survey.Data collection consisted of the thematic analysis of documents originating from the awareness raising workshops and from interviews applied to regional, state, and technical managers of the regional health departments who attended the workshops, in addition to technicians from the State School of Professional Education in Health of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). The results indicate that they had knowledge of the ordinance and that the potential was in federal funding, access to the Regional Management Board, and in the commitment of those involved. The difficulties, meanwhile, were the lack of human resources in the State Department of Health, causing work overload; the fact that the school is neither decentralized nor accredited by the state; the release of municipal workers for training, and operational barriers in the implementation of financial resources in the state.

This study aimed to analyze the determining factors for the choice of the Family Health Strategy as a field of professional practice in order to check for the influence of academic education and its implications. From October 2006 to February 2007, 22 higher level professionals (dentists, nurses and physicians) working in Family Health teams in a municipality of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (Brasil) were interviewed individually. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed pursuant to the theoretical and methodological framework of socio-historical psychology. It was observed that the professional choice of the Family Health Strategy was not reflective and critical, rather influenced mainly by the expansion of the area and job offers, a fact that may compromise their professional activities. We suggest investing in educational processes as a way to encourage and promote the work and the commitment of professionals with the Health System and, especially,Family Health.

The issue addressed in this article is the supervision of middle-level nursing staff in serving spontaneous demand at a basic health unit in São Paulo (Brazil). The goal was to analyze how these workers are supervised and how the supervisor proceeds. It is a qualitative study based on the direct observation of a typical work week, with thematic analysis supported by the NVivo software and by the work process supervision framework. Fifty-five cases served by the nursing staff, done at the supervisor's request in 23 cases, were observed. The biomedical approach focused on acute or chronic complaints and on drug prescriptions and tests predominated both in cases requested by the supervision and in the supervisors' responses. It was concluded that the supervision of the mid-level nursing staff by a higher level professional in the receipt of spontaneous demand enhances this activity's solvability. It is recommended, however, to expand the focus of the understanding and analysis of user needs from the perspective of completeness.

This study aimed to understand the hospital cleaning work from the workers' perspective and to describe, from their viewpoint, the impact the hospital environment has on their daily life and work. It is a qualitative case study that uses hermeneutics as its theoretical and methodological support. Data were collected through non-participant observation and interviews were carriedout with five cleaningworkers at a university hospital. The analysis was based on reading, seeking for the units of meaning contained in the transcript of the empirical data, which allowed for distribution into two categories: Daily hospital cleaning work and reflections on the outsourcing of the hospital cleaning workers' lives. At the hospital that was studied, female labor and the constant concern with health risks, especially biohazards, predominated. Outsourcing has a direct impact on the workers, as it makes them feel less valuable from the social and human viewpoints. The study points to the need for hospitals to offer a more welcoming environment for outsourced cleaning workers, upon whom so much physical and mental demand is imposed.

This qualitative study aimed to address the care given to professionals who work at health care units, particularly the impacts, meanings and relationships at work, in addition to vulnerability to stress at work. The survey was conducted in the city of Santa Maria, state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), with a sample of 14 participants from five health care units. The data were collected through interviews, observations and testing, and, subsequently, analyzed using content analysis. As a result, at times the work appears to be structuring, i.e., a key operator in the constitution of the subject, while at others deconstructive, able to destabilize one's identity and personality and cause mental illness. The motivations, the relationship with the community, and the dialog in labor relations, as well as the need for actions with the health professionals, from the perspective of caring for the caregivers' health, were perceived as fundamental in the relationship between mental health and work.

Those who suffer from mental health problems are usually exposed to psychosocial vulnerability due to factors not only related with their clinical condition but also with the stigma associated with mental illness. In this paper we present how a non-governmental organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina, promotes through a work and employment training program, social participation and work inclusion of people with mental illness. It is a case report that during six months two subjects participated in this program as they were assisted by the program. The results observed were mainly related with improvement of their occupational performance, changes in their daily life and their relation with others. The articulation of mental health professionals with Argentina's Ministry of Work, Employment and Welfare, meant challenges inside and outside of the worplace. It allows exploring and provides a view of how the inclusion process can be created with the commitment of different stakeholders and sectors of society.

This article focuses on the implementation of the National Men's Health Care Policy from the nurses' perspective. It is an exploratory and descriptive qualitative study in which 17 nurses from the municipalities of the Entre Rios Municipalities Association, in Santa Catarina (Brazil), were interviewed. After analyzing the data, it was concluded that there are knowledge gaps both concerning the NationalMen's Health Care Policy and on the actions carried out at the municipalities. Men's health is focused on the biomedical health care model. It is concluded that there is need to train the professionals in order to attain the development of the policy pursuant to its assumptions.

This article presents the outcome of an integrative literature review on health education and citizenship that sought to understand and analyze the different scientific contributions available. Health education reflects a strategy that seeks a citizen who is a coauthor of the process of building his or her own health care. The LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Center Health Sciences Information) database was used to collect the data in the period ranging from 2000 to 2011, with a total of 79 publications. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the final sample consisted of ten articles. The study revealed the prevalence of article studies with more than three authors - predominantly professors -, and of theoretical reviews. The categories that emerged from the study were health education - historical background and conceptual foundations, and popular education as an engine for citizenship. The evidence showed the historical process of the health policies and the emergence of social movements targeting the needs of the population. They also highlighted that continuing health education allows for the construction of new knowledge by blending scientific and popular knowledge. The literature shows relevant contributions on health education, as it is an emancipatory practice of the subject acting as a space that generates citizenship.

This study aims to understand the academy-service integration in nursing education. Qualitative surveys were used and dialectic hermeneutics served as an analytical framework. In all, teachers, nursing assistants, and fourth year nursing students of a Nursing course at a college that has a hospital complex certified as a teaching hospital answered 24 questionnaires. What was found was that there are mingling spaces among the players and that knowledge is built from practice, enabling the development of individual and collective care and of management. The academy-service integration encourages service professionals to seek knowledge and research and contributes to changes in practice and to generating commitment among the students. Difficulties arise from the incompatibility in the agendas of teachers and nurses, from the little involvement of the teacher with the practice, from an overload and lack of preparation among nurses for teaching, over and above from a lack of understanding among the multidisciplinary team about the role played by the teaching hospital. There is a need to adapt the structures and expand opportunities for dialog, with greater involvement and shared decision-making and to qualify the service professional. Furthermore, there is also a need for investments to qualify the teaching and service integration process.

This study aimed to analyze the managerial practice of nurses in the Family Health Strategy. It is a descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach guided by the social phenomenology of Alfred Schütz. A semi-structured interview was conducted to collect data. Study subjects were 11 nurses of family health teams in the city of Conselheiro Lafaiete, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the period ranging from August to November, 2009. The data collected were subjected to content analysis, respecting the ethical principles of research involving human subjects. The results revealed these categories: “The view on work” and “Intervening factors at work.” In the discourse, people management stands out as an important tool that permeates relations among the health team. Regarding hindering factors, professionals have raised issues related to dissatisfaction, experienced in the context of the lack of recognition of the work they do in providing care and management. The strengthening of nursing management action is essential in building a broad, autonomous practice in the context of primary health care.