Abstract
Abstract: Introduction: Brazilian guidelines for undergraduate medical courses recommend a minimum curricular course load (CL) of 7,200 hours and the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics recommends that 10% of this load be allocated to pediatrics. The aim of this study was to analyze the total course load and the course load in pediatrics of Brazilian medical schools’ curriculum. Method: Cross-sectional and descriptive study. Of the 294 existing medical schools in Brazil in October 2017, those with curricular matrix/grid or political-pedagogical project of the course and pediatrics CL available on their homepage were included. The studied variables included total curricular CL, pediatrics CL and year of inclusion of pediatrics in the curriculum. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, calculating absolute and relative frequencies for categorical variables and mean and Standard Deviation (SD) and median and 25-75 percentile (P25-75) for continuous variables. Results: One hundred and fifty-one medical schools were included (51.4% of the total). The curriculum CL median was 7,975 hours (P25-75=7,440-8,550), with a mean of 4,665.7 hours (SD=593.8) before clerkship and 3,388.1 hours (SD=430.3) during clerkship. The mean pediatrics’ CL was 778.2 hours (SD=180.8), with a median CL of 220 hours (P25-75=160-300) before clerkship and 514 (P25-75= 405-640) during clerkship. The median pediatrics practice course load before clerkship (n=70) was 123 (SD=90-180). The mean of the proportion between general pediatrics and the curricular CL was 9.7% (SD= 2,2), and 68.5% schools had a CL >720 hours. The median of the proportion between the CL in pediatrics clerkship and in the course was 16% (P25-75=12.5-18.9), ranging from 6% to 26%. The median of the proportion between pediatrics CL before pediatrics clerkship and course load was 4.7% (P25-75=3.6-6.5), ranging from 1% to 13%. Two schools started the teaching of pediatrics in the first year (1,3%), 19 in the second (12.6%), 63 in the third (41.7%) e 67 in the fourth year of the medical course (44.4%). Conclusions: The schools meet the minimum curricular course load established by the national guidelines, tending to exceed it, and not all of them meet the minimum pediatrics course load requirement of 720 hours recommended by the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.
Highlights
Brazilian guidelines for undergraduate medical courses recommend a minimum curricular course load (CL) of 7,200 hours and the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics recommends that 10% of this load be allocated to pediatrics
Of the 143 which were not included, 43 did not provide their curriculum matrix/ grid or online political-pedagogical project (PPP) (n = 43), 29 provided the PPP without information about the programs or CL and 71 provided their PPP without differentiating the specific load aimed at the teaching of pediatrics
All schools comply with the norm established by the National Curriculum Guidelines (DNC) of a CL equal to a minimum of 7,200 hours[4], the majority greatly exceeds this value
Summary
Brazilian guidelines for undergraduate medical courses recommend a minimum curricular course load (CL) of 7,200 hours and the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics recommends that 10% of this load be allocated to pediatrics. The aim of this study was to analyze the total course load and the course load in pediatrics of Brazilian medical schools’ curriculum. The studied variables included total curricular CL, pediatrics CL and year of inclusion of pediatrics in the curriculum. The teaching of pediatrics in Brazilian medical schools started in the middle of the 19th century, as part of the content of obstetrics[1]. The median course load (CL) on pediatrics in the curriculum was 20 weeks (with 1 week being equivalent to 20 hours) among the schools that provided this information in a detailed and consistent manner, and the duration of teaching ranged from 5 to 40 weeks; responses below or above this range were excluded. Most of the practical teaching of pediatrics occurred during the clerkship and predominantly at the hospital. One of them was the increase in practices outside the hospital and in the hours of practice, which should be started in primary health care in the first years of the course, to that students would have contact with the community and learn the health care process in an integrated way, with activities aimed at health promotion and the prevention of diseases[3]
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