Method: :The sample was comprised by 102 dentists working in Public Family Health Services enrolled in an E-Learning Specialization Course in Family Health. Participants answered an online survey assessing information on socio-demographic, managerial and working processes information. Description of the sample was carried out through frequency analyses. Mann-Whitney tests were performed to detect the existence of differences between continued education information and time since graduation.
Result: The majority of participants were females (68.6%). The majority of the dentists worked exclusively in Family Health Services (64.7%). Family Health Strategy represented the first job for 68.2% of the dentists. Only 18.8% of the dentists that answered the survey worked in cities where there was a career plan. Weekly management meetings occurred in 68.2% of the services were dentists worked. Adherence to clinical protocols or guidelines was fairly unusual, with only 23.2% of the dentists reporting its use. Managerial support was available in the majority of Family Health Units (75.6%). Mean number of years since graduation did not differ between participants who answered that Family Health Strategy was their first job [11.72 (7.00) vs 12.08 (9.25), p=0.7]. Those who had career plan were graduated more years ago than those who did not have it, however this difference did not reach statistical significance [14.25 (9.23) vs 11.25 (7.28), p=0.29].
Conclusion: Working processes were somewhat adequate, however the low adherence to protocols suggest that it is essential to implement strategies to its adoption, since it is known to improve health care provision quality.