When referring to Public Health, literature points to the need for professionals who are able to work in different contexts. In this perspective, the theme of "competency" emerges from the administrative context for health in order to promote debates in the field of human resource development and training. This paper aims to present an overview of the Brazilian scene on professional skills in health for better understanding the construct at the national level and propose future research. The study used data from the Directory of Research Groups of the National Research Council (CNPq), the database of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Health (Health Research System), Bank of Theses and Dissertations of the Coordination for Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and SciELO database. We observed inequality in the distribution of scientific researchers and little encouraged production. Thus greater efforts in the field of health management are necessary to build the theme.
competencies; health professionals; public policies
