Students’ Perception of Public Health in Medical Education Training

Abstract

Since the implementation of the current Brazilian Health System (Sistema Único de Saude -SUS), there has been a trend to change medical school curricula regarding primary care and community-centered activities, in an attempt to replace the predominant hospital-centered teaching model, and to graduate more general practitioners. The current national guidelines for medical schools' curricula support this orientation; however, many medical schools present with difficulties to change their curricula, especially considering the lack of tradition that Public Health disciplines face as a primary field of practice, when compared to highly specialized fields. In the present study, which used qualitative methods with an exploratory-descriptive approach, field study, and data analyses by content analysis, a data collection instrument was administered to students of two different medical schools, aiming at understanding their perceptions regarding the importance Public Health disciplines have on their education; the characteristics of these disciplines on the two different schools; and the students' satisfaction with these disciplines. The results have demonstrated that students surely consider Public Health disciplines important for their medical education, acknowledging that concepts regarding the public health system and the physician's role in primary health care are invaluable to newly-graduated physicians. Satisfaction with the discipline varied between the two medical schools analyzed, with students of the school that prioritizes Public Health horizontally along the entire course being more satisfied and considering themselves capable of working within the public health system as soon as they are graduated. Data allows us to perform a critical analysis of the way Public Health disciplines are inserted in these two different medical schools, suggesting the need to more deeply insert them along the years of study, starting early, and prioritizing practical activities, aiming at sparking a higher degree of interest among the students, and consequently leading to a higher number of professionals seeking this field after graduation.

In response to the Saudi healthcare reform: a cross-sectional study of awareness of and attitudes toward the public health model among health students

“…Concerning the public health curriculum, a qualitative study was conducted in Brazil to investigate the importance of public health in the education of medical students ( 46 ). Results revealed that students regarded public health as essential to their medical education and professional roles.…”

“…Furthermore, those who emphasized public health more in their studies reported higher levels of satisfaction and proficiency in various aspects of public health-related work. The study suggested incorporating public health more deeply, starting early, and prioritizing practical activities to stimulate interest and attract more students ( 46 ). Similarly, a mixed-methods study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of fifth-year medical students at South African University regarding their public health course to inform the curriculum.…”

Rural Public Health Workforce Training and Development: The Performance of an Undergraduate Internship Programme in a Rural Hospital and Healthcare Centre

“…Second, a large amount of research and several reports have been conducted on this issue. The findings were mostly reported in a quantitative form, which could neglect the economic backgrounds, human factor consideration, in-depth understanding, and core sharing [17].…”