Bioethics and literature: the experience report of Ethical-humanistic axis - FMB-UFBA

Abstract

Medical education in Brazil has been reconstructed in order to attend demands of the health care model, theimplementation of the Unified Health System and to form generalist physicians that are able to provide humanisticand integral health care. The curricular reform, a turning point in medical education in the Faculty ofMedicine, Federal University of Bahia (FMB-UFBA), has implemented its Ethical-humanistic axis, from the firstto the eighth semester of medical school curriculum. Many tools are applied in the teaching of medical ethicsand bioethics, including the use of literature. This work aims to report the experience of Ethical-humanisticaxis of FMB-UFBA in the use of literature in medical education during the period from 2009 to 2012. Literaturecan be used as a tool that enables the debate on political and social issues, necessary in medical educationand allow the reflection on human suffering and human relations inherent to medical practice.