On June 3 and 4, the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health (EPSJV) hosted a Workshop to present the results of the first phase of the project “Human Resources in Health in the Context of Covid-19: Strengthening Capacities to Improve Health System Responses,” focusing on capacity building for health professionals in remote and underserved areas.

The Workshop featured participants Maria Isabel Duré, Ana Paula Cavalcanti, Monica Durães, and Fernando Santoro, representing PAHO/WHO; Mario Dal Poz and Dercio Santiago, from the Observatory of Human Resources in Health at the Institute of Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro (IMS/UERJ); Juan Pereyra, from the Ministry of Health of Argentina; Sebastian Tobar, from the Center for International Relations in Health (Cris/Fiocruz), and Gabriel Muntaabski, researcher and coordinator of the National Nursing Program (Pronafe) of Argentina. EPSJV was represented by director Anamaria Corbo; Deputy Director of Research and Technological Development, Monica Vieira; Coordinator of International Cooperation, Carlos Batistella; and Coordinator of the Health Technicians Observatory, Márcia Valéria Morosini, among other staff members.

Maria Isabel Duré stated that the Virtual Campus for Public Health should be seen not only as a teaching platform but also as a tool for relationship-building and cooperation. She praised the research as a way to understand what is happening with health technicians based on their interests in accessing the virtual campus, which would help create educational pathways in that learning environment. “This discussion allows us to rethink the education of technicians. We chose to have this discussion with EPSJV not only because it is a collaborating center [of PAHO/WHO] but because it fosters academically rigorous and scientifically sound debates,” she emphasized.

According to Isabel Duré, the governance of the virtual campus was strengthened following a demand from the current PAHO director, Brazilian Jarbas Barbosa, who requested the creation of educational pathways for short training courses that adhere to the quality standards of the WHO Academy, of which the Virtual Campus is a regional platform.

Anamaria Corbo highlighted the importance of producing data on health technicians, referencing the work done in Brazil by the observatories of EPSJV and IMS/UERJ. She noted that the definition of who these technicians are varies by country, affecting both employment relationships and education offerings. “We appreciate the invitation to collaborate and PAHO’s willingness to hear our contributions, given the School's approach,” she said. According to her, platform usage by enrolled students has shown a pragmatic approach, with students seeking necessary content for current epidemiological challenges or content directed by their national health authorities. “The recent case in Rio Grande do Sul serves as an example, where leptospirosis death notifications led to the availability of courses on the subject for health professionals on some platforms,” said the EPSJV director.

Monica Vieira highlighted that the question “Who are the health technicians?” has been central to EPSJV's activities for about 20 years, constantly evolving with changes in the labor market. “Today, this question is even more relevant due to the impacts of the precarious conditions faced by these professionals,” she observed.

During the two-day event, participants concluded a phase of the project, which had already included the webinar “The Virtual Campus for Health and the Training of Health Technicians,” held on April 16 (watch here), and the virtual workshop “Analysis and discussion of critical points observed by the research team in the categorization of technical occupations,” held on May 17 (watch here).
At the workshop, participants were presented with a PowerBI platform consolidating data from approximately 486,000 enrollments in the 20 most popular courses on the Virtual Campus in the post-pandemic period. Based on this data, systematized by researcher Fernando Santoro, participants discussed various cross-sections of information not yet available to the general public. The majority of Virtual Campus users are female (79%) and aged between 21 and 40 (59.3%). Seven professions represent 90% of enrollments, with the nursing field alone accounting for 78.3% of the total.

Five courses concentrate 41.8% of enrollments on the platform: Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Dengue (12.9%), Hand Hygiene (9.9%), Fundamentals of Palliative Care (7.1%), Implementation of the HEARTS Package in Primary Care (6.4%), and Accurate Automated Blood Pressure Measurement (5.6%). The top 10 courses account for 56.7% of enrollments, and the top 20 courses account for 69.2%. Out of the 303 courses offered on the Virtual Campus, 63 accounts for 90.2% of enrollments, leaving 240 courses with less than 10% of total enrollments.

Workshop participants discussed hypotheses for this concentration, with attendees suggesting “best practices” for identifying the success of a course. It was noted that during the event, success was measured by enrollment numbers rather than the actual impact on local health conditions, as pointed out by researcher Gabriel Muntaabski, who highlighted the lack of objective data to make such an assessment at present.

Within the scope of technical professionals, Virtual Campus users can be classified into 23 occupations, in addition to self-descriptions allowed by the user registration system. The research identified 81% of registrations in system-offered occupations, while 19% of self-descriptions resulted in 1,176 different professional titles. Mario Dal Poz noted that various national legislations impact how professionals identify themselves on the platform. This reality poses the challenge of grouping these descriptions for comparability purposes, particularly those that allow establishing parallels in national accounts. “It is essential to discuss professions to formulate proposals for human resources in health,” added Dal Poz.

Carlos Batistella emphasized the effort to group and align criteria, which will help PAHO/WHO systematically gather quality information about the workforce in the Americas region. “This could result in a qualitative leap not only for member countries but also in establishing cooperation policies,” he noted.

Territoriality, georeferencing, and the workplaces of enrolled students were other points discussed, noting that 90% of enrollees are from just six countries, with Mexico and Colombia alone accounting for 70% of them. Additionally, hospitals and health centers are cited as workplaces for 68.4% of enrollees, although 25.6% did not specify their workplace.

Márcia Valéria highlighted that the Health Technicians Observatory, coordinated by EPSJV, is a research space for different interpretations of who health technicians are. She noted that the Observatory published in May 2024 the conceptual note “Broad Conception of Health Technicians (in potuguese)” and another methodological (in portuguese) note, reflecting its expanded understanding of these workers, incorporating information from the National Registry of Health Establishments (CNES), the National Catalog of Technical Courses (CNCT), the National Catalog of Higher Technology Courses (CNCST), the Brazilian Classification of Occupations (CBO), and other specific regulations and legislation for each profession.

The Workshop concluded with researchers consolidating the information obtained and identifying questions that still need answers, such as users' motivation for enrolling in courses. Four analysis dimensions were established as the next steps of the study: the institutional policies of the region's countries and their relationship with the Virtual Campus, the epidemiological dimension, the work field of enrolled technicians, and the didactic-pedagogical dimension of the courses.