Formação de recursos humanos em saúde: desafios e oportunidades

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the challenges in the formation of the workforce, emphasison the medical category, that respond to the new needs generated by the demographic, epidemiological transition, by the new technological incorporations and demands of the users of the health services in Portuguese speaking countries. Methods: the paper based on literature review, the reading of the preparatory documents for the 5th National Congress of Tropical Medicine Congress, presentations by speakers, and debates on the topic. Results: the training of health professionals is complex, requiring the contextualization of curricula, reflecting the new competencies and the demands of health service training, such as integral care, primary care and responses to changes in the epidemiological framework. However, market pressures and corporate practices, particularly of the medical category, hinder these processes. Conclusion: Due to the low regulatory capacity of the public sector in human resources training, the initiatives to approximate the formation of health needs have a very limited effect in the face of market pressures. There is a need for greater clarity about the diagnosis of human resources demands in health in the Portuguese speaking countries and extend the regulation of the public sector regarding health education.