FAMILY APPROACH IN THE UFSJ MEDICINE COURSE PROGRAM, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Introduction and objectives: The medicine course’s program of the Dom Bosco campus of the Universidade Federal de São João del Rei (CDB-UFSJ) was approved in 2013 following Brazilian national policies for new medical schools. CDB-UFSJ program intent to modify the traditional curriculum by using a new epistemological view: not only disease oriented, but concerned about illness and patient’s personal experience. So the insertion of Family Approach is to propose a systemic rationality with comprehensive assessment of the patient’s illness in the family context. This study aimed to demonstrate the basis and how is planned the teaching of Family Approach in CDB-UFSJ medicine course. Methods: content analysis was used with the following documents: the UFSJ medicine course’s program; the Brazilian Constitution of 1988; Brazil´s National Curricular Guidelines of 2014; Brazil’s National Educational Program for 2011-2020 and the Global Consensus for Social Accountability of Medical Schools of 2010. Results and conclusion: Primary Health Care is one of the curriculum’s main pillars through its 12 periods and a privileged scenario for everyday interaction with patients’ families. Thus, as Family Approach is a competence desired for medical students, it is taught in the 3rd semester and is a required competence in 6 other disciplines throughout the medicine course’s program. This emphasis on the subject reflects the attention given to the law and social principles demonstrated by the studied documents. It is noticeable the intention to educate a new medical graduate based on critical and reflexive actions that comprehends the complexity of the interactions patients’ families in providing health care.