Permanent education in primary health care: perception of local health managers.

Objectives To know the health education strategies advocated and developed for workers of primary care, in the view of managers. Method The study is characterized as a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research. A semistructured interview was used to collect data. The sample population was chosen intentionally, with an audience of 26 municipal health managers ascribed to a regional health coordination office, located in the north/northwest of the Rio Grande do Sul State. Results The thematic analysis allowed the construction of two empirical categories: educational strategies, compartmentalized, discontinuous and with technicist bases; and the insipience/absence of educational proposals. Final considerations The results show a reality that needs to be transformed by all people involved in health work process: teachers and students, users, members of health councils, workers and managers. Realistically, there is a quest for change in services, to qualify the comprehensiveness of health care.