Ethical-humanistic axis of a medical school in Bahia: students’ perception

Abstract

Universities have been restructuring their curricula to direct medical practice onto the Brazilian Unified Health System, driven by the publication of the National Curricular Guidelines for the Undergraduate Medical Course in 2001, by introducing humanities as an important instrument to the students’ education. The Faculty of Medicine of Bahia, Brazil, reformulated its curriculum in 2007 and implemented the ethical-humanistic axis, provided from the first to the eighth semester of the course, aiming at adapting the education of physicians to the profile proposed by the guidelines. Our study analyzes the students’ perception of this axis in the curriculum. Questionnaires were applied to obtain 418 respondents. The students know the objectives of the ethical-humanistic axis; however, they think their colleagues do not consider the axis important for their education. Although most of students favor subjects from the biological and clinical modules, they also consider the disciplines of the ethical-humanistic axis should be present in all semesters.