No abstract

Trachoma is considered a neglected disease. It is the major cause of preventable infectious blindness, being found mainly in underdeveloped countries. Several studies have shown that this disease is present in all Brazilian regions, which is evidence that the government and academy must continue to consider Trachoma among the blindness causes in our country. The need for greater qualification and training of health professionals for a better service to Unique Health System users has led to different alternatives being tried to achieve this goal. Several experiences have been implemented in our midst, with successful results, which highlights this methodology's importance. In this context, the present study aimed to verify the effectiveness of a permanent educational strategy named Clinical Skills Training (CST) in the detection of this disease. The research was performed in the city of Turmalina/MG, situated in the Jequitinhonha Valley, considering that in the municipality there are regions with populations at increased social vulnerability, therefore with favorable characteristics for the onset of the disease. Four physicians and eight nurses from the Family Health Strategy (FHS) along with three nurses from the health management department participated in the present research. Initially, a situational diagnosis was made aiming to evaluate the Turmalina FHS professional’s knowledge level regarding Trachoma through the application of a questionnaire on this theme. Following, a training module (TM) with theoretical exposition and clinical cases discussions was performed. Next, a Clinical Skills Training was performed, where scholars from 7 to 15 years old were evaluated under the supervision and orientation of a researcher ophthalmologist physician. Finally, the professionals answered one more time a questionnaire with questions regarding Trachoma. The data were collected and analyzed in the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences, IBM Inc., USA – SPSS, version 20.0. To verify the difference between the scores obtained by the participants in the pre and post-training tests, an unpaired T-test was applied. A significance level of 95% (p<0.05) was adopted. Therefore, when the number of correct answers in the pre and post-training tests was compared, the second was significantly higher than the first applied. In conclusion, the training had a positive impact on the professional’s knowledge, contributing to a greater ability for the diagnosis or diagnostic suspicion of Trachoma. Additionally, it is possible to conclude that permanent education is an important tool to improve the professional’s performance.