Consolidation of the Academic League of Family and Community Medicine at UFRGS

Resumo

Introduction: A greater insertion of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Medical School improves the education and encourages students to follow specialization in family and community medicine (FCM). Due to the lack of encouragement and organization of this process, a gap between the academic world and the health service is observed. Therefore, the existence of places which insert FCM in their projects is essential.

Objective: To develop the “Liga de Medicina de Família e comunidade”(Family and Community Medicine League) at FAMED/UFRGS (Medicine College of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), an academic space that provide students with an experience with PHA.

Methodology or experience description: A program of activities for medical students was created aiming at the improvement of some lacking points in the medicine curriculum of the institution, such as: the insertion of the longitudinality principle in Medical School through the regular follow up of patients in consultations at UBS Santa Cecília of Porto Alegre (linked to Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre), the experience of home visiting; the living of the community context, the insertion of research projects in PHA, the acknowledgment of the social reality, and the study of communication skills, practiced by the presentation of video records of medical consultations.

Results: On October 7th and 8th of 2013, the inaugural event of the activities of the Academic League of Family and Community Medicine took place, with a series of lectures given by Medicine professors about Primary Health Care. Furthermore, at the end of the event, with the collaboration of an actress, a live consultation was presented in order to put into practice the communication skills of the participants. About 60 students from different levels, professors and medical residents of Family and Community Medicine were present, and latter were invited to continue participating in the activities in 2013 and 2014.

Conclusions or Hypothesis: We believe that performing a quality work on Medical School we can serve as an example of the possibilities of teaching, research and extension in Primary Health Care, in order to promote curriculum changes that enhance Family and Community Medicine and conciliate medical education with the needs and demands of health in the community, transforming the professional profile.