The experience with comprehensive individual and family healthcare with a focus on accountability, the physician-patient relationship, ethics, and professionalism in the Integrated Medical Curriculum

摘要

INTRODUCTION: In order to update its teaching practices and meet the community's needs and restructuring of the health system and technological advancements, the School of Medical Sciences at the State University in Campinas implemented a major curricular reform for incoming students in 2001. OBJECTIVE: Describe a teaching experience focused on the integration of knowledge for individual care in the various life phases, within the reality of primary healthcare, with an emphasis on knowledge, clinical skills, accountability, and humanistic and ethical attitudes. METHODS: In the new curriculum, intra-, inter-, and cross-disciplinary integration was organized in inter-departmental modules, progressive participation in clinical disciplines, students' earlier and progressive contact with the health system, maintaining horizontally and vertically integrated modules. Initiation in clinical practice in Health Centers in the fourth year of school, with 432 hours dedicated to outpatient clinical care for children, women, adults, and the elderly in the context of family health. Supervision is provided by faculty, clinical staff from the medical school, and tutors selected from among the primary healthcare system staff. The National Program for Reorientation of Professional Training in Health (Pró-Saúde) facilitated participation and partnership between the medical school and the primary care units. Theoretical content is provided in seminars during two weekly periods, with grading based on written tests (cognitive knowledge). Skills and competencies in clinical activities are evaluated by means of theoretical and practical discussions every other week throughout the internship, structured clinical evaluations of care provided to children, women, and adults, in addition to the portfolio composition with the total number of consultations, selected cases for review, and self-criticism of the learning process. RESULTS: The module was evaluated through discussion forums held once a semester with students, professors, tutors, and administrators. The groups agreed unanimously that the project had fully achieved the goals of accountability, bonds, and ethics, having partially achieved the integration between theoretical and practical course content and teamwork. CONCLUSION: The integrated curriculum fostered a comprehensive view of the family. It allowed students to take responsibility and create ties with patients, understanding the service's case-resolution capacity and demands of primary care through their direct experience.