The Management of Work and Education in Brazil’s Unified Health System: thirty years of progress and challenges

This article presents a historical analysis of work management and education in the healthcare field over the three decades since the creation of Brazil ’ s Unified Health System (SUS, acronym in Portuguese). Using the sociology of professions as a frame of reference, it addresses the following topics: the health labor market; trends in healthcare employment; the healthcare workforce; and the regulation and dynamics of undergraduate programs in the health field. It analyzes each of the moments that characterize the area, from the pre-SUS period to the present day. The period has witnessed the following: a boom in health schools, largely in the private sector; an overall increase in the level of education of health professionals , an increase in regional inequity; an alarming increase in distance learning programs; an imbalance between labor supply and demand; the expansion of installed capacity; the municipalization of health employment; an increased focus on multiprofessional teams; and an increase in precarious work and informal contractual relationships and deterioration of pay levels.
Source: Ciencia e Saude Coletiva - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research