EDITORIAL
A decade of National Curriculum Guidelines: achievements and challenges
Ivone Evangelista CabralI; Elizabeth TeixeiraII
IPresident of ABEn National (2010 - 2013), Brasilia-DF, Brasil
IIDirector of Education of ABEn National (2010-2013), Brasilia-DF, Brazil
The 13th National Seminar on Guidelines for Nursing Education (13º Seminário Nacional de Diretrizes para a Educação em Enfermagem-SENADEn) was held from August 30 to September 1, 2012, in the city of Belem, state of Para, in the North region of Brazil.
The conference gathered more than 500 participants, including nursing professionals and students, professors, nursing technicians, academic managers of nursing undergraduate courses and many others who work at Schools of Nursing; speakers and inviters of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, of the Federal Board of Nursing, National Federation of Nurses, Nurse Unions, among others.
In this scenario, and with these actors, it was possible to make a critical reflection towards Nursing Education, as a part of national education, its challenges and perspectives. The issues highlighted the social and strategic relevance of updating the agenda of Brazilian Nursing Association (ABEn in Portuguese) to develop a policy of Nursing Education in Brazil, in terms of technical, political, organizational and ethical commitment. The plural discussion, during the three days, mobilized everyone to think and propose new referrals that can contribute to nurses training and qualification. The need was stressed to establish partnerships and institutional policies to consolidate the progress and overcome the biases of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education, and its effects on the disorderly expansion of nursing undergraduate courses all over the country.
The challenges of the process of implementation and consolidation of the National Curriculum Guidelines (DCN) for nursing undergraduate courses were the core of the reflections. At the same time, the audience pointed the need to rethink the implementation of such guidelines nowadays, as well as the way they are appropriated by political pedagogical project developers.
The Statement of Belem (see p.696-98), approved at the final of the meeting, starts from the premise that there is a close relationship between quality of nursing education and quality of health care service delivery in the Universal Health System, since nursing category represents over 60% of health workers.
The better qualified Nursing professionals, the greater their contribution to the quality of health actions. Thus, invest in enhancing the quality of nursing education produces immediate and direct impact on the quality of health care and users' satisfaction with the services offered by the System.
Therefore, it is imperative that Nursing should be included among the professions which authorization, recognition and renewal of recognition of undergraduate courses are subject to prior manifestation of the National Health Council (NHS), as it already occurs with other courses, such as Medicine, Dentistry and Psychology.
In the Statement, there are also other propositions related to the clinical training of Nursing students from different levels of education. Particularly, was discussed the adequacy of the Federal Board of Nursing in regulating, by Resolution, the role of the clinical nurse in the reception and preceptorship of students in the clinical practice. The need to submit any Resolution that promotes interface with nursing education to public consultation was emphasized, as it has already been happening with the other initiatives established by the Regulatory Agencies in Brazil.
Another contribution of the Statement concerning to the Nursing Professional Act and its Regulation Decree, was to approve the initiative of the Federal Board of Nursing to not register in the Regional Councils, nurses graduate in distance learning courses, as well as to not register any other graduate from new Bachelor degrees in health or Technical Education Courses, that is not RN and Nursing Technician. Similarly, it was recommended the gradual extinction of the Auxiliary Nursing category.
The Statement also records relevant aspects concerning licensing teachers for Nursing Technical Education, emphasizing the need to continue and broaden the debate on the qualification of nurses licensed for Nursing Technical Education within the Licensed Courses. It is recommended the establishment of a political emergency action to induce the qualification of Nursing graduates and permanent education of Nursing faculty, to carry out teaching in Technical Education. It was also highlighted the need for systematic evaluation of Nursing Baccalaureate and Licensed courses to prepare teachers to work in Professional Technical Education.
The Nursing profession requires professionals profiled with participatory, ethical, political and humanistic quality, to assume the role of health advocacy and Nursing care as citizenship rights. In this sense, presence education is an ethical and moral imperative.
Finally, the Statement reassures ABEn's position against distance learning in Nursing, since it makes the foundational assumptions of Nursing education impossible.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
17 Dec 2012 -
Date of issue
Aug 2012
