Directly Observed Treatment: planning perspectives, improvisation and transfer of policy

ABSTRACT Objective: to investigate the possibilities of positive and negative association of improvisation and the understanding of what will be the planning by managers and coordinators of tuberculosis control programs, in a context of transference of the Directly Observed Treatment policy. Method: this is a qualitative study, developed through semi-structured interviews analyzed in the light of French Discourse Analysis. Results: there was a weakening of the constructive and operational planning process, which is at the mercy of political will and the need of putting out fires. This, in turn, along with achômetro (Brazilian popular expression used on unsubstantiated point of view or opinion that is based solely and exclusively on the intuition of the person who says it), composed the metaphor of improvisation in its negative perspective, understood by automatism and unsystematization process. Improvisation, however, emerged as a representation of innovation, creativity, and contextual change. Final considerations: both the planning and the transfer of public policies constitute processes that need to be strengthened and qualified in the field of public health.