[Training human resources in epidemiology and health services evaluation]

The topics and bibliography pertaining to Epidemiology and Health Services Evaluation are discussed in the light of our experience with graduate courses at the Brazilian National School of Public Health (ENSP), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ). The authors believe that the essential element of evaluation is the assessment of interventions, and that the evaluator's role is to analyze health care as a protective (or risk) factor among other health determinants. Epidemiology has been considered noteworthy due to its ability to integrate health services/programs evaluation as its research subject. In our courses on this subject, the main epidemiological study designs applied to health services research are presented in one section, followed by a discussion about accuracy and reliability of measures and classifications. A third section of the course comprises theoretical and practical assumptions of evaluation models, and the fourth section develops the notion of the quality of health care quality assessment (meta-evaluation). The pivotal issue in the organization of the course is the expansion of research from the academy to health services, implying acknowledgement of the mutual benefit this partnership can bring about.