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

ABSTRACT The Permanent Health Education, contemplated by the Ministry of Health as an institutional policy, is one of the pillars of strategic potential for the transformation of the processes in the Unified Health System. This cross-sectional and descriptive study investigated the Brazilian panorama of Permanent Health Education, from secondary data of the Ministry of Health, extracted from the external evaluation census of the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care in the 2nd Cycle (2013), carried out with Family Health Teams, with adherence to the Program in the period (n=10.213/100%); 90% (n=9.184) of the teams responded to participate in Permanent Health Education activities, with greater frequency in the Southeast, Northeast and South regions; the main Permanent Health Education activities reported were seminars, shows, workshops and discussion groups (n=8.243/80.71%) in addition to presential courses (n=7.808/76.45%). Of the options offered by the Ministry of Health, the least frequent was the Telemedicine University Network (n=475/4.65%); 87.62% (8.948). Family Health Teams had their Permanent Health Education demands met by management. The instrument presents data robustness and contemplates several aspects of management, including important elements of Permanent Health Education that can guide decision making and interfere with their own policies and programs in the services.