[Analysing a public health service network's managerial competence]. / Análisis de las competencias directivas de una red de salud pública.

OBJECTIVE: Analysing the effectiveness of training-action methodology in developing and strengthening the skills required by public health network managerial staff. METHODS: The study evaluated an educational programme (pre- and post- evaluation being applied within the programme's framework and conditions, without controlled conditions) in which 37 managerial staff from the Talcahuano Health Service Network (forming part of the Public Health Assistance Network) participated in the Managerial Team Training programme, 2007 and 2008, run by the Bío-Bío University's Entrepreneurial Science Faculty in Chile. A skill-based self-evaluation instrument was applied on two different occasions. RESULTS: The results revealed a lack of management skills-based training in network managerial teams and the need for it through training-action methodology which stimulates such needed managerial skills. CONCLUSIONS: Acquiring these skills will lead to providing users with a quality service through better management practice in public health establishments.