Potentials and challenges in the education of nutritionists

Abstract

This study describes potentials and challenges experienced by professors and students of a course in nutrition in Santa Catarina state, in a process of reorientation of professional education, based on the articulation of teaching with practical situations. It is an exploratory descriptive study with a qualitative approach. The data collection was performed using focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The potential was characterized by: the reception of students in situations of practices in municipalities in the region of the EIS; good receptivity of students caused by the absence of a nutritionist from the field of collective nutrition; and the interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity promoted by programs and projects of reorientation of professional training and extension. The challenges identified were: the reception of students in the situations of local practices; the reception of the community and professionals towards technical guidance provided by the students; the adequacy of the bureaucracy at locations for receiving students; the saturation of the situations of practice; the participation of students in the activities proposed by the teachers; the absence of nutritionists in the fields of clinical and social nutrition; the limited concepts of interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinary; and the fragmentation of knowledge. The study concluded that partnerships between educational healthcare institutions must be strengthened, to qualify the educational process. Advances are needed, particularly to overcome, the barriers to the articulation of teaching with the practical situations, because these obstacles impede an effective reorientation of professional education in healthcare.