Proqualis celebrates 15 years of existence in 2024 and an event in the auditorium of the Sergio Arouca School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz) marked the occasion, bringing together researchers and partners who helped build its trajectory. The Collaborating Center for Quality Care and Patient Safety emerged as an initiative of the Institute of Scientific and Technological Communication in Health (Icict/Fiocruz), focused on the production and dissemination of information and technologies on quality and patient safety.
The project has had the support of Fiotec for at least a decade and its main strategy is its portal: proqualis.fiocruz.br. Recently, the program was migrated to Ensp/Fiocruz, the unit to which most of the researchers working on the initiative are linked. The change was mentioned by Victor Grabois, Executive Coordinator of Proqualis, during his speech at the opening of the event held on July 17th. Sitting next to him at the panel, the current Vice-President of Fiocruz, Hermano de Castro, highlighted the importance of developing a space dedicated to climate tragedies on the Proqualis portal. According to him, events such as the one that recently occurred in Rio Grande do Sul make clear the inequality in access to health, both in terms of service and qualified information. The event's opening panel also welcomed representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Rio de Janeiro State Health Secretariat (SES-RJ).
Subsequently, Paola Andreoli, current Manager of Quality, Patient Safety and Clinical Outcomes at the Oswaldo Cruz German Hospital, in São Paulo, spoke about the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book Error is human: gaps and challenges for Brazil. The work is considered a milestone for the National Patient Safety Program (PNSP), created to contribute to the qualification of health care in all health establishments in Brazil. In her presentation, Paola defended the need to review the PNSP, with a focus on qualifying professionals working at all levels of Brazilian public health, from primary care to specialized care.
Fiotec was represented on the occasion by the Coordinator of National Projects, Natalia Salvador, and by the analyst Elaine Aquino, responsible for monitoring the project at the institution. The professionals followed the debate on the role of Proqualis in expanding the literature on the quality of Patient Care and Safety for health professionals and managers, still in the morning. In the afternoon, the event paid tribute to the actors involved in the program's history, in addition to discussing health care for vulnerable populations.