The development of competencies among health professionals in relation to the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) is part of a number of initiatives that are meant to face the need for services that can lead to the resolution of health problems, considering the transformations occurred in the health sector and in the workplace. This article's objective is to make a theorical reflection on the theme of professional competencies, so that we can contribute to the development of political-pedagogical projects for health training and primarily for nursing training. For that matter, we introduce the competency-based model. These competencies are in accordance with the EPHF and with the competencies proposed so far, and are aimed at contributing to the development of interdisciplinary, critical, and reflexive education models..
professional competence; public health nursing; nursing education