Permanent education: a tool to think and act in nursing work.

This research is important to the extent that it contributes to reflections on educational actions directed at nursing workers, focusing on the purpose, instruments and subjects responsible for care. The general aim was to analyze the effects of permanent education actions on nursing care quality at a large private hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We carried out a qualitative study in the framework of dialectics. Data were collected from two nurses and seventeen nursing auxiliaries and technicians who worked on the eighth and ninth floor and from the nurse manager. The results showed that education is not articulated with the work process and that professionals need management improvement, permitting teaching through problem-raising. The role of nursing professionals needs to be reviewed in the context of the work process, together with training based on the permanent education strategy.