Introduction:

The essential functions of public health have been defined as the conditions that allow a better performance of the practice of public health. Professional competence is a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for a public health professional to adequately develop the functions and activities that are his own.

Aim:

To design, validate and apply an instrument to evaluate the professional competences necessary to perform the essential functions of public health, possessed by graduates of postgraduate courses in public health of the Military School of Graduates of Health.

Subjects and methods:

An observational, analytical and transversal study was carried out. It was analyzed statistically.

Results:

An instrument with excellent content validity (IVC = 0.94) and high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) was designed. 81.59% of the graduates of the master's degree in public health had the 56 professional competences necessary to carry out the essential functions of public health. On the other hand, 53.21% of graduates of the technical course specialized in public health had them.

Conclusions:

A valid and reliable instrument was designed to evaluate the professional competences to carry out the essential functions of public health and those competences were evaluated in the graduates of the postgraduate courses in public health. This instrument, adapted to particular circumstances, can be applied to other postgraduate courses in public health.

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