ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT IN A SOCIAL ACTION MEETING: AN EXPERIENCE RELATE

Introduction: Social actions in public spaces are extremely important in health education and are part of Academic Leagues extension activities. Such activities promote both academic and personal growth for the students. This work relates the development of an extension action of health promotion and exposes its impact in medical education during II Health Meeting on a public square at Fortaleza, Ceará. Methodology: Professors and students of the Homeostasis League from Universidade de Fortaleza participated on a social action meeting in a square at Fortaleza downtown on May 9, 2015, where activities of health promotion were developed, such as: blood pressure, blood glucose and anthropometric indices measurements, fundus examination and otoscopy. The public audience was the local population. The citizens were also oriented by medical students and professors about their health situation. Results and conclusion: The action enabled citizens to better understand their current health situation who also received important orientations, such as how the health service is organized and advices of how to adapt their life to a healthier routine. It also offered the students an academic and personal growth, since they could exercise skills like empathy and measurement techniques of glycaemia and blood pressure. It is important to note the epidemiologic value of this activity, once it allowed a better knowledge of the comorbidities that are most prevalent in the population.