Training policies and practices of hospital health units

Through the case study of five Portuguese hospitals we tried to characterize the training activity carried out by them their policies and practices of professional training management. These units suffer particularly from a hierarchical subordination rather concentrated in the management bodies of the hospitals themselves and in the Central Administration of the Health System. They depend in part on external funding - programmes from the European Social Fund - to provide training that adds to their internal response capacity. There is a strong bet on the development and permanent updating of the technical skills of the professionals due to the nature of their functions neglecting a little the development of relational skills an essential factor for a good communication in health care provision. The data from the research of case studies show that professionals are little involved in the process of training management from the analysis of needs to the evaluation of the training both their own and the training itself.