This article presents the concept of a four-way approach to training in the health field, based on teaching, management, care, and social control. Based on an experiment under way as a training policy for the Unified National Health System (SUS), the authors seek to formulate a toolbox theory allowing a critical analysis of the education that has been implemented in the Brazilian health sector and the establishment of challenging paths for training. The image of a four-way training approach fosters the development and organization of health education as an integral part of health system management, reshaping the image of health management and health care services and enhancing social control.
Continuing health education; health workers' education; health training and practices; health training policy-making; teaching in health