VALIDATING COMPETENCIES FOR AN UNDERGRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM IN RURAL MEDICINE USING THE DELPHI TECHNIQUE

Introduction: Worldwide, half the population lives in rural areas; however, less than 25% of doctors work in such regions. Despite of it, in Brazil only some medical schools offer students the opportunity to acquire work experience focused on medicine in rural areas. The objective of this study was to develop a framework of competencies for a longitudinal medical training program in rural medicine as an integrated part of medical training in Brazil. Methods: Two rounds of the Delphi technique were conducted. A structured questionnaire was elaborated, based on a literature review. This questionnaire was submitted to the opinion of 20 panelists affiliated with the Rural Medicine Working Party of Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine, who were asked to evaluate the relevance of competencies using a 5-point Likert-type scale. When a consensus was not reached regarding a given competency, it was submitted to a second round to enable the panelists to reevaluate the now dichotomized questions. Results: The questionnaire consisted of 26 core competencies and 165 secondary competencies. After evaluation, 26 core competencies were classified as relevant, with none being excluded and only 8 secondary competencies failing to achieve a consensus. Conclusion: A framework of competencies for a program in rural medicine was developed and validated. It consists of 26 core competencies and 158 secondary competencies that should be useful when constructing competency-based curricula in rural medicine for medical education in Brazil. Keywords: curriculum; medical education; professional competency; rural health.