Introduction
Early contact by the student with the exercising of medicine in a community environment is of the greatest importance, not only because primary health care is a specific part of the National Health Service but also because it is on this level that many students will be practising their profession in the future.
The students Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) already had contact with health centres, particularly in the subject of “Introduction to Medicine” (headed by Professor J. Gomes Pedro). However, the recent curriculum reform at the FMUL created the conditions to deepen the scope of these training periods. There are now two training periods in health centres. The “Health Practice in the Community” (PSC I) in the 1st year, and “Health Practice in the Community” (PSC II) in the 2nd year, both lasting fifteen days. Both of the training periods have integrated and complementary aims, and are held at the end of the assessment periods in the 1st semester and beginning of the 2nd semester of the 2nd year, so that the students have complete availability. The tutors are family doctors practising in a health centre environment and the pedagogical methodology is of the “shoulder to shoulder” type.
After PSC I having taken place in the 1st year, with very positive results, it was possible this year to lecture PSC I to the 1st year students and PSC II to 2nd year students.
General Aim
The aim is for the student to deepen knowledge about the health centre and the population that use it through observation of clinical practice by the family doctor and other professionals, and to train in carrying out simple clinical acts.
Specific Aims
At the end of the training period the student should be able to:
- Valorise the doctor-patient relationship and the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication in a medical consultation;
- Carry out simple clinical acts characteristic to the daily activity of a family doctor;
- Characterise a patient from the socio-demographical point of view and their family as to the structure and patterns of repetition, for this purpose producing a family genogram.
Written Work
At the end of each training periods the student writes a reflective work. In the 1st year answering the question, “What does it mean to be a family doctor in a health centre?”, and in the 2nd year individually preparing a work on the subject, “History of a Patient and Characterisation of his Family”.
Evaluation of the Teaching
Most tutors evaluate the pedagogical experience itself and the qualities of the students in particular very favourably.
Dr. Machado Gomes, from the Bonfim Health Centre, wrote, “I consider that the student was exemplary in all the activities on the training period, and shows capacity and interest of an excellent level for carrying out any specialty in medicine”.
The students also agree in their evaluation of the tutors and the importance of the training periods.
The student Joana Freitas, after a training period in the Lavradio Health Centre, wrote in her report, “Thank you for teaching me so many values that I one day hope make me a doctor and a better person”. Another student, from the Abrantes Health Centre, wrote, “being in intense contact for the first time with the practice of medicine has brought me unforgettable experiences for the rest of my career. Over the last year we have lived immersed in books and theories, and it is fantastic to see how this knowledge can be applied”.
Keywords
If we try to synthesise the content of the reports by keywords, they would be: doctor-patient relationship, family, humanisation of care, diversity of patients and pathologies, verbal and non verbal language, social context, the patient and the illness.
Synthesis
A successful experience with a demanding and innovating pedagogical methodology, with many people involved and a heavy organizational load, but which is justified by the immediate results obtained and by the foreseeable impact in the medium term.
Luís Rebelo (Head of Health Practice in the Community)
Unit of General and Family Medicine (Institute of Preventive Medicine)
e-mail – lrebelo@sapo.pt
Early contact by the student with the exercising of medicine in a community environment is of the greatest importance, not only because primary health care is a specific part of the National Health Service but also because it is on this level that many students will be practising their profession in the future.
The students Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) already had contact with health centres, particularly in the subject of “Introduction to Medicine” (headed by Professor J. Gomes Pedro). However, the recent curriculum reform at the FMUL created the conditions to deepen the scope of these training periods. There are now two training periods in health centres. The “Health Practice in the Community” (PSC I) in the 1st year, and “Health Practice in the Community” (PSC II) in the 2nd year, both lasting fifteen days. Both of the training periods have integrated and complementary aims, and are held at the end of the assessment periods in the 1st semester and beginning of the 2nd semester of the 2nd year, so that the students have complete availability. The tutors are family doctors practising in a health centre environment and the pedagogical methodology is of the “shoulder to shoulder” type.
After PSC I having taken place in the 1st year, with very positive results, it was possible this year to lecture PSC I to the 1st year students and PSC II to 2nd year students.
General Aim
The aim is for the student to deepen knowledge about the health centre and the population that use it through observation of clinical practice by the family doctor and other professionals, and to train in carrying out simple clinical acts.
Specific Aims
At the end of the training period the student should be able to:
- Valorise the doctor-patient relationship and the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication in a medical consultation;
- Carry out simple clinical acts characteristic to the daily activity of a family doctor;
- Characterise a patient from the socio-demographical point of view and their family as to the structure and patterns of repetition, for this purpose producing a family genogram.
Written Work
At the end of each training periods the student writes a reflective work. In the 1st year answering the question, “What does it mean to be a family doctor in a health centre?”, and in the 2nd year individually preparing a work on the subject, “History of a Patient and Characterisation of his Family”.
Evaluation of the Teaching
Most tutors evaluate the pedagogical experience itself and the qualities of the students in particular very favourably.
Dr. Machado Gomes, from the Bonfim Health Centre, wrote, “I consider that the student was exemplary in all the activities on the training period, and shows capacity and interest of an excellent level for carrying out any specialty in medicine”.
The students also agree in their evaluation of the tutors and the importance of the training periods.
The student Joana Freitas, after a training period in the Lavradio Health Centre, wrote in her report, “Thank you for teaching me so many values that I one day hope make me a doctor and a better person”. Another student, from the Abrantes Health Centre, wrote, “being in intense contact for the first time with the practice of medicine has brought me unforgettable experiences for the rest of my career. Over the last year we have lived immersed in books and theories, and it is fantastic to see how this knowledge can be applied”.
Keywords
If we try to synthesise the content of the reports by keywords, they would be: doctor-patient relationship, family, humanisation of care, diversity of patients and pathologies, verbal and non verbal language, social context, the patient and the illness.
Synthesis
A successful experience with a demanding and innovating pedagogical methodology, with many people involved and a heavy organizational load, but which is justified by the immediate results obtained and by the foreseeable impact in the medium term.
Luís Rebelo (Head of Health Practice in the Community)
Unit of General and Family Medicine (Institute of Preventive Medicine)
e-mail – lrebelo@sapo.pt
