Gestão do trabalho nas Unidades de Pronto Atendimento: estratégias governamentais e perfil dos profissionais de saúde

Cristiani Vieira Machado, Luciana Dias de Lima, Gisele O'Dwyer, Carla Lourenço Tavares de Andrade, Tatiana Wargas de Faria Baptista, Rachel Guimarães Vieira Pitthan, Nelson Ibañez

In the late 2000s, the expansion of Emergency Care Units (UPAs) in Brazil's policy for provision of urgent healthcare included hiring a large contingent of health professionals. This article analyzes government strategies for workforce management and the profile of these professionals in the UPAs in the State of Rio de Janeiro, which has the largest number of such units in the country. The methods included document analysis, interviews with managers, and visits to the UPAs and interviews with coordinators, physicians, and nurses. The results showed that the workforce management strategies varied over time and according to administrative sphere (state versus municipal). The so-called Social Organizations became the main hirers of health professionals in the UPAs, since they allowed management flexibility. However, there were problems with selection and stability, with a predominance of young professionals with limited experience and high physician turnover. Instability associated with outsourced hiring reinforced the view of work at the UPA as a temporary job.