PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: CONCEPTUALIZATIONS BY MEDICAL STUDENTS

Introduction: The setting up of quality Primary Health Care (PHC) has been one of the biggest challenges for Brazil’s public health system. Moreover, the proper education of physicians in that field has been equally challenging. Objectives: know the Social Representations about PHC of the medical students. The Method: application of Bardin’s Content Analysis in documents of 349 students in private medical schools. The Results: the Representations of PHC are profoundly linked to the Representations of Brazil’s Universal Health Care, and students understand that PHC’s attributes are: preventive care for health and simple problems resolution; health awareness and strategies to repare secondary and terciary systems. Students do not represent the international principles of PHC, save for the principle of integration. PHC is frequently represented in reference of part to the system but not as central locus in the medical care structure. The acting of the peculiarities and PHC’s application are weak, as is the representation of care provided to families and communities. Conclusion: The knowledge regarding PHC is still insufficient, which harms the potential for the necessary medical practice dictated by current Curriculum Guidelines.