Gestão de recursos financeiros da educação permanente em saúde: desafio das comissões de integração ensino-serviço / Management of financial resources of permament education in health: challenge of the in-service learning integration committees

A utilização dos recursos financeiros da educação permanente em saúde (EPS) no Brasil, mesmo seguindo a dinâmica estabelecida no Pacto de Gestão, ainda configura-se como um problema nesse contexto. O objetivo foi analisar como ocorre a gestão dos recursos financeiros da Política Nacional de Educação Permanente em duas Comissões Permanentes de Integração Ensino-Serviço (CIES), em Santa Catarina. Estudo qualitativo, do tipo pesquisa participante, realizado através da adequação da Investigação Temática de Paulo Freire, de maio-dezembro/2009, com 56 membros de duas CIES que, após a formação de círculos de investigação, participaram das etapas: levantamento dos temas geradores, codificação, decodificação e desvelamento crítico da realidade. A observação participante e o diálogo foram as principais técnicas de coleta de informações. Os resultados indicam que as CIES se assemelham nas problemáticas relacionadas à gestão de recursos destinados à política, sendo a burocratização, a indefinição de formas de gestão financeira e a morosidade que permeiam as estruturas regionais responsáveis pela gestão dos recursos são os principais fatores explicitados. Os participantes apresentam como possibilidades de mudança a elaboração de ações de EPS sobre a gestão de recursos financeiros em nível estadual.

Despite adhering to the dynamics established in the Management Pact, the use of financial resources of Permanent Education in Health (PEH) still features as a problem in Brazil. This study analyzes how the management of these financial resources by two Permanent In-Service Learning Integration Committees (ICLS) evolves in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It involves a qualitative, participatory research study adapted from Paulo Freire's Thematic Research conducted with 56 members from two ICLS between May and December 2009. After setting up the research groups, the members participated in the stages of theme generation surveys, encoding, decoding, and critical exposition of the reality. Participant observation and dialogue were the main data collection techniques. The results indicate that the two ICLS are not dissimilar in terms of issues of management of resources destined for policy, with bureaucracy, the indefinition of forms of financial management and delays that permeate regional structures responsible for resource management being the main factors detected. The participants considered the elaboration of PEH actions in the management of financial resources at state level to be the main opportunities for change.

Cost effectiveness of cervical cancer screening among Chinese women in North America.

BACKGROUND: Chinese North American women have high invasive cervical cancer rates and low screening rates. The cost-effectiveness of strategies to improve Pap testing rates for Chinese women living in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia was examined. OBJECTIVES: To calculate the costs and cost-effectiveness of implementing two strategies to motivate women to obtain a Pap smear. RESEARCH DESIGN: A three-armed randomized, controlled trial was conducted. Women in each of two interventions (high-intensity outreach and low-intensity mailing intervention) were compared to a group of women who received usual care. MEASURES: Costs were captured via a group discussion of costs, accounting records, sampling of staff time logs, and estimation of costs and task times. Effectiveness was measured as the proportion of women in each intervention arm who reported receiving a Pap smear since the trial began. Cost-effectiveness was calculated as the incremental cost of screening each additional woman between an intervention arm and the control arm. RESULTS: A greater percentage of women who received the outreach intervention had a Pap test than women who received mailed materials or women who were in the usual care arm. The intent-to-treat cost for each additional woman to be screened for a Pap test was $415 in the Outreach arm and $676 for the Direct Mailing arm. The outreach worker intervention, though more expensive overall, was more cost-effective than the mailing intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Outreach intervention is cost-effective for sponsors and should be considered as a strategy to motivate Chinese women living in North America to seek cervical cancer screening.