Permanent Health Education and National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care: a cross-sectional and descriptive study

Abstract

The Continuing Education in Health contemplated by the Ministry of Health as an institutional policy is one of the pillars of strategic potential of transformation of the processes in the Unified Health System. This cross-sectional and descriptive study investigated the Brazilian panorama of Continuing Education in Health from secondary data of the Ministry of Health, extracted from the PMAQ-AB External Evaluation census in the 2nd Cycle (2013) carried out with Family Health Teams (FHT) with adherence to the PMAQ in the period (n = 10213/100%); 90% (n = 9184) of the teams responded to participate in CE activities with greater frequency in the Southeast, Northeast and South regions; the main CE activities reported were Seminars, Shows, Workshops and Discussion Groups (n = 8243 / 80.71%) and Presential Courses (n = 7808 / 76.45%). Of the options offered by the Ministry of Health, the least frequent was the Telemedicine University Network (n = 475 / 4.65%); 87.62% (8948) FHT had their CE demands met by management. The instrument presents data robustness and contemplates several aspects of management, including important elements of CE that can guide decision making and interfere with policies and programs of CE in services.