The Potential of Permanent Education in Qualifying Tuberculosis Care

Abstract

The National Policy for Permanent Education in Health represents a milestone for the formation and improvement of work in health in Brazil. It is a strategy of the Unified Health System (SUS) that seeks to promote the transformation of practices in the sector. The aim of this study was to understand how permanent health education (PHE) and its concepts are perceived by primary health care (PHC) professionals, involved in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) and identify the possible barriers to their general understanding and use in the qualification process of municipal assistance. This was a survey-derived descriptive epidemiological study with a quantitative approach, with the application of an instrument to assess the degree of agreement, using the Likert Scale with PHC professionals. The data were analyzed statistically by the XLSTAT® software. To achieve independence between the questions and the variables evaluated, the Chi-square test was performed. The statements showed distorted perceptions of PHE. The most relevant data denote difficulty in relating professional practice to the teaching process, this is also reflected in actions to deal with neglected diseases; among which is TB. In this context, for PHE to be an instrument of critical analysis of knowledge concerning the local reality, and be effectively applied in an objective way, it needs to be thought-out and adapted; especially when the focus is on diseases historically relegated to the background.

Keywords

• tuberculosis, health services, primary health care, continuing education.