Follow-up of former postgraduate students of a postgraduate nursing program

Abstract

Objective: To describe the profile of former postgraduate students of the Postgraduate Nursing Course of the Escola Paulista de Enfermagem of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo, their professional performance and opinion about the impact caused by the course. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out with 135 of the 224 former postgraduate students from 1986 to July 2016, who were grouped in three temporal cohorts. Results: There was an expressive increase in the Doctoral degrees over the three decades, whose former postgraduate students are coming from all regions of the country, especially the Southeast; only three are from other countries. The mean age at admission was 39.8 years, and the permanence in the course was 46.2 months. Most of them are in the labor market, working with teaching (92%), research (82.9%) and management (52.6%). There was a statistically significant difference between the three decades in the following variables: current work condition (p=0.01); performance in teaching in a private institution (p=0.02); performance in care (p=0.03); performance in management in teaching as coordinator of a postgraduate course (p=0.04) and as a school Director (p<0.01); management in research as a group leader (p=0.03); management in care as a hospital director (p=0.01) and publication of books (p=0.01) and chapters (p<0.01). Most said that the Doctoral degree had an impact on academic training (94%), professional growth (94%), personal growth (91%) and increased job opportunities (73%). Conclusion: Most of the former postgraduate students are working in federal institutions, with their work performance mostly in undergraduate and lato sensu postgraduate teaching. Most are developing research with undergraduate and lato sensu and stricto sensu former postgraduate students. Part of the undergraduate students develops assistance and management in teaching activities in research and assistance. The “professional growth” and “academic training” followed by “personal growth” attributes were the greatest impacts referred to by the former postgraduate students.