Evaluability of the Program to Value Primary Healthcare Professionals (PROVAB): management challenges

The objective of this article is to present the results of a study on the evaluability of the Program to Value Primary Healthcare Professionals (PROVAB in the Portuguese) that was created by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 2011. The Program is part of the Manage Healthcare Work and Educationstrategy which seeks to invest in a number of measures aimed at improving and valuing the work carried out by primary healthcare teams. The research, which used qualitative methods, was carried out between February and November 2013 and involved five stages: (a) analysis of documents; (b) identification of potential users; (c) strategic analysis; (d) modelling of the intervention; (e) sharing of lessons learned. Data collection took place in three iterative phases: document analysis, key informant interviews and a workshop. The activities of the program were grouped into three areas: functional and working conditions, teaching/learning and management. The results showed that the program can be evaluated, since it was possible to specify its feasibility by means of a logical model. The potential and priority areas were mapped for future evaluations, whose central focus is to address the problem of unequal distribution of Brazilian health professionals.