Management of the workforce in health in the Brazilian public health system

Purpose:
Evaluate the management processes and organizational structure for the area of human resources for health (HRH) in Brazil.
Methodology:
The focus of this work was the health secretariats of the cities of great urban centers and of the Brazilian districts. For accomplishment of the study an inquiry for the totality of the managers of HRH that had taken care of to the criteria of inclusion (253) was made and focal groups with state managers and of cities of the capitals. The results were obtained by crossing data from the survey and the focal groups and, also, by a comparative study based on the results of a research on HRH management accomplished in 2004.
Results:
The results of the present study revealed that 76.3% of the secretariats have HRH agencies. 47,8% of the participants declared not to possess the Plan of Positions, Careers and Wages, mainly those from cities departments outside the capitals. It was observed that 63,2% have an information system for HRH available. The cooperation between the General offices and teaching institutions for the training and/or specialization of health system’ workers has been mentioned by 67,6% of the participants. The main cooperation forms are for specialization courses (61,4%) and for the apprenticeship field (56,1%).
Conclusion:
Finally, it was highlighted  the role of the federal manager of the system in  inducing politics for the area, by means of financial, administrative and technical processes, that directly condition the structuring and strengthening of the HRH area.