Magic or enchantment? Management committees in the brazilian national health system and changes in healthcare modes

Abstract

In a qualitative research about healthcare production in the health networks, the role of management committees in an experience of change in the government of health was evaluated. Using a cartographic approach, we found that the activation of the committees by the government aimed at a double task: To promote institutional democracy and to create governability for the proposed change. Nevertheless, the committees’ agendas were predominantly restricted to technical or professional matters, and there was some tension involving several of the network actors. On the other hand, there were encounters in which intra-and inter-team pacts were experienced, through symmetrical and co-authorial relationships: An analyzer that we called “a-significant enchantment”. We conclude that the management committees can configure themselves as scenarios for a change, and to that end, we propose to make them pregnant with Permanent Health Education tools.