'Imitating Art': Ethics, humanities and professionalism in undergraduate medical education

摘要

What problems were addressed? Recent trends in medical education point to the need for the development of ethical humanist skills and professionalism. Brazilian national curriculum guidelines (NCG) highlight the desired professional profile of a humanist, critical and reflective doctor with the capacity to act at different levels of health care. Accordingly, two public medical schools in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in northeastern Brazil have used an innovative educational model for developing ethical humanist skills in undergraduate medical students using the arts. This active method is not focused on the acquisition of technical and scientific knowledge, but on goals of comprehensiveness and humanisation in the development of medical practitioners.