Os efeitos da legislação na prática do estágio supervisionado do curso de nutrição da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

The activities of internship and graduation in Nutrition are defined by regulatory law in Brazil, which brings direct consequences in the management of these activities. The legislation and internal rules of the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF) standardize supervised internships on its Nutrition’s undergraduate degree, which leads to difficulties that need to be resolved in practice. This piece of work seeks to analyze the effects of this legislation on supervised internships of the UFJF Nutrition’s degree. A case study was adopted as research methodology, in which was conducted a comparative analysis of laws and regulations, document analysis and questionnaires directly aimed to stakeholders of each internship. It was asserted that the degree complies with the regulation regarding the educational aspects of the internship while part of the degree’s program. However, it was observed that the regulating documentation lacks adjustments to effectively comply what’s determined by legislation. Furthermore, it also brought challenges on the internship’s experience, such as the need to reconcile the academic interests with the tutor’s expectations, the role of the preceptor in direct supervision, and the desired attitude of the apprentice towards a professional environment. Hence the results, an intervention plan was elaborated in order to improve the management of internships, concerning the current legislation. As a result, the proposed actions are: an update of the internship’s guiding documentation, periodical meetings to integrate the internship’s staff and preceptors, and the adoption of management strategies. In summary, the degree’s internships are affected by the current legislation, with positive aspects as well as constraints and challenges. The internship configuration of the UFJF’s Nutrition undergraduate degree acts as a key feature on the implementation of the proposed actions in the intervention plan, therefore serving as inspiration for best practices in other undergraduate degree’s programs.