ABSTRACT
This study aimed to assess community placement of studentsfrom Brazilian Medical Schools and the schools'integration of basic content intothe clinical curriculum through actual experience of clinical situations in primary health care. A structured questionnaire containing 26 pre-tested items was sent out initially by e-mail to the coordinators of160 medical courses recognized by the Ministry of Education (MEC) with at least one class of recent graduates. The selected schools and coordinators were identified from a list of ABEM (Brazilian Association of Medical Education) member institutions from May to October 2013. The questionnaires were answered by 108 coordinators in three different methods: by e-mail, by telephone interviewand in hard copy (face-to-face meetings) after signing the Informed Consent Form (TCLE). Data were tabulated and analyzed by descriptive statistics, with percentage distribution of the categorical variables, using thestatistical software packageEpi-InfoTM, version 7.1.4. 88% of thecoorindators reported that their school is striving to achieve curricular integration between basic, clinical and human sciences; 58.3% of them present integration through the problematization of clinical cases in primary care and 43.5% considerthe content to be partially integrated. All respondent schools follow the National Curriculum Guidelines of 2001 and 38.9% received inductive policy governmental aid. For 63.9% of the respondents,the curriculum is guided by the most prevalent health problems and 75.9% consider that the objectives are relevant to the population. A total of 86.1% foresee work withincross-functional teams and 56.5% of the schools integrate family physicians with other medical specialties. For 71.3%, activities in the local community increase social responsibility and 37% believe it may improve the distribution of future professionals. According to the coordinators, most medical schoolsare implementing basic and clinical curricular integration and 67.6% expressed the view that the strategies used for curricular integration at their medical schools are successful.
KEYWORDS
Curricular integration; Education Based in the Community; Curriculum; Higher Education; Problematization
