Health workforce regulation in complex and unstable times

Abstract

In Brazil, health is considered a right of all and a duty of the State, and health workforce regulation is essential to ensure the safety, quality and effectiveness of the health services provided, which require professionals with skills, abilities and attitudes consistent with the service in question, as well as to guarantee dignified working conditions for health professionals and patients. This essay is a critical and up-to-date analysis of the main characteristics of Brazil’s health workforce regulation model. We first describe how the health workforce regulation is structured, addressing topics such as the regulatory autonomy of Professional Councils, the regulation of new healthcare professions and the judicialization of conflicts in the field. We then analyze the regulation of health higher education and the leading role of the Ministry of Education in this regulatory field. The present reflections point out possible ways to improve Brazil’s health workforce regulation model, having the consolidation of the Unified Health System (SUS) and the full implementation of the right to health as guides.