COMMUNITY-TEACHING-SERVICE INTERACTION PROGRAM: A POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR THE MEDICAL STUDENT FORMATION PROCESS

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE In Brazil, the Ministry of Education establishes the Curricular Guidelines for Medical Schools. In order to guarantee an experience in Public Health, the medical students must carry out an internship in the Family Health Unities. The aim of this study is to describe the experience of the Community-Teaching-Service Interaction Program in Vila Velha University, in Brazil. METHOD The Community-Teaching-Service Interaction Program in Vila Velha University ranges from the first to the eight periods, with the student permanence in the same health unity for four years, creating a professional-user-student-professor bound. There are 480 students in the seven Family Health Unities carrying out their internship. During this period, the students are allowed to experience the Public Health System. Using the spiral methodology, the students initiate the territory module, deepening their knowledge into social groups, families and individuals. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The students learn about the health network functioning and study in theory and practice the Public Health. It is an opportunity to be responsible for the wellbeing of the patients and to put in practice all contents studied in the other curricular components, by performing activities and assistance in real people with real problems. Community-teaching-service Interaction Programs may be the solution to graduate doctors with more possibility to succeed with better lifestyle choices, improvement in treatment adherence and prevention on some chronic diseases worsening. It can be a path to graduate doctors prepared to daily patients’ clinical handling and to overcome the obstacles, especially on the Public Health System.