Análise do mestrado profissional enquanto modalidade stricto sensu de formação de profissionais do SUS: um estudo de caso do PROFSAÚDE

Abstract

Professional training in health was marked by numerous inducing initiatives aimed at the process of reorienting training and qualifying health professionals with a view to meeting the principles of the SUS and promoting solutions to the population's health problems. In this scenario, the professional master's degree (MP) has become a field of worker specialization and the production of fundamental knowledge for health services and systems, emphasizing the Professional Master's Degree in the National Network in Family Health (PROFSAÚDE), one of the programs created in the last decade for professional qualification for the Health Unic System. Studying the modality and bringing evidence that uniquely configures the MP in the training proposals contribute to the programs fulfilling the purpose for which the model was called to exercise: professional qualification. This work aimed to analyze the norms and guidelines that regulate the professional master's degree identifying the requirements that give identity to this modality; contextualize the historical background to the creation of PROFSAÚDE and present its organizational and academic management characteristics; analyze PROFSAÚDE from the perspective of the identity requirements of the professional master's degree. It was a descriptive-exploratory study with a qualitative-quantitative approach, developed in two phases: the first focused on PM, as a stricto sensu modality, and the second phase with a specific focus on PROFSAÚDE. In this study, unique characteristics were identified in this type of course, requirements such as a curricular structure consistent with the purpose of the course, pertinent methodological strategies applied to the professional field, faculty with a profile for the professional area, and final products oriented to solving problems were identified as essential for MP proposals. It is evident in the findings that articulating teaching and application in the field of professional activity is a motto for professional master's degrees. The study also brought evidence that makes PROFSAÚDE a proposal that supports the MP's identity, advancing the program's improvement in issues involving masters dissertation and the profile of the faculty. The results of this study contributed to a unique look at the modality and the program and may support other analyzes for professional master's courses.