Abstract
Objectives: To describe the perception of nursing on the professional continuing education and discuss the contribution of continuing education for professional practice. Methods: This is a descriptive and exploratory character field with a qualitative approach, developed in a municipal hospital of high complexity, urgency and emergency reference in the State of Piauí in the Northeast region and in the South of the city of Teresina-PI. Participated in 15 nursing professionals of various welfare units, having as a criterion for choosing the time of professional experience of at least one year at the institution. The data collected through semi-structured interview and analysis we used the technique of content analysis. Results: The analysis of the data emerged two thematic categories: 1) Perception of nursing staff on continuing education and 2) Continuing education's contribution to professional practice. The study has shown that the nursing staff understand what is continuing education, its importance and contribution to professional practice, since the same provides quality, updating and professional development. Conclusion: Continuing education has a great meaning and importance with regard to the acquisition and renewal of knowledge of professionals, as well as the improvement in the service to the population and community in general.