[Education of nursing personnel for community health care]

The article reviews the efforts that nursing has been making in Peru to adjust training to the health needs of the population, particularly in rural and marginal urban areas, and in keeping with the policy of extending coverage by the strategies of primary care and community participation. In particular, the program of the Professional Baccalaureate in Nursing is reviewed, and a detailed description of its planning is given on the basis of selected functions, the educational process, the curricular structure, and progress made since the program was launched. Noteworthy among the innovative aspects of this experiment is the imparting of professional training in discrete learning blocks, which take the place of subjects. These blocks center on the teaching-learning of functions, which are identified through the analysis of community problems and health needs. Each function or group of functions serves as a focus around which are assembled the knowledge and skills required to master them and thus for attainment of the educational objectives of each block.