IX Medical Internship Seminar

Who is the doctor today? What should a medical student expect from his profession? What can you do not to distance yourself from the initial motivation that made you choose medicine? These and other questions were raised and discussed during the conference "Being a doctor today", given by the director of Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, Prof. Dr. Maria Luisa Carvalho Soliani for the medical students of the 11th and 12th semesters, during the IX Medical Internship Seminar, held on March 18, at the Academic Unit Brotas which also included the participation of students from the 9th and 10th semesters.

“We think that being a doctor is having a lot of scientific knowledge and medical skills, but it is much more than that. It is necessary to develop attitudes that have been lost over time and which, in fact, are very simple points: it is looking at the patient, touching the patient, taking an interest in him as a person and not just as a disease. The big challenge today is not to get carried away by technological beauty, by the world of technology, because the art of being a doctor is not only about having the ability to acquire and have this knowledge, but it is much more than that. It is taking this knowledge and knowing how to apply it to the patient as a human being. And for that, you cannot be enchanted by technology. However, you have to always be open to study, because, as knowledge is renewed every day, you have to be an eternal scholar, you have to enjoy studying, reading and, in this way, not get lost along the way" , declared Dr. Maria Luisa.

According to her, paying attention to the humanistic role of the physician is a reflection made throughout the course of Bahiana. “We have several moments in the course where this is reflected. Especially at the beginning of the course. But, it's necessary to talk about this during the entire course, because the possibility of getting lost in this world is huge and if you don't rescue yourself and redeem your values, you can even earn a lot of money, but you probably won't be happy”.

According to the coordinator of the Medicine course at Bahiana, Prof. Dr. Eliana de Paula, there is a concern to train a professional with skills, but also with a keen sense of social responsibility. “The medical course is structured in a way that meets the achievement of competences. Not just technical knowledge. And much more. We have to develop skills in doing as well as a proactive attitude towards social responsibility. I think this is the great differential of our course. And that doesn't just happen in isolated moments. Quite the opposite. Since the first semester of the course, from our PROSEF that has an unusual part with the living experience. This already shows the difference. This already shows that we care at all times”. 

Dr. Eliana also highlights the institution's concern to train its faculty for a more humanistic position, another differential in the training of Bahiana. “Another aspect that has to be highlighted is the qualification of our faculty. We have a high percentage of professionals trained in the humanist area, in the area of ​​health education, they are not mere specialists in the medical area. They have a lot more to offer because teachers are the mirrors for our students. Practice fields are also handpicked. We are very concerned about not inserting our students into environments that do not respect the patient, where things are done mechanically, without that involvement that is so necessary and important to learning”, highlights the coordinator. 

The Medical Internship Seminar reached its ninth edition as a unique opportunity to exchange experiences for students who are going to enter the internship. For this, teachers from the Bahiana and professionals from other areas such as CREMEB advisers and lawyers. In addition, students participated with reports of exchange experiences carried out via the Science without Borders Program. The themes of the conferences were medical residencies in Brazil, the labor market, learning assessment and the panels: "Controversial topics in medical practice - ethical and legal aspects related to: death certificate, medical record, medical certificate, evasion, discharge on request ” and “Controversial issues in medical practice – ethical and legal aspects related to: medical practice and teamwork”.

For Marina Silva Ferreira (10th sem.), the meeting is a very important opportunity to learn about new experiences and take them as a reference for her years of internship. "I think this seminar is very important because we end up living a lot of internship, it's been two intense years in the hospital, living with the resident and the preceptor, and this feedback from staff who have more experience and who can spend a little time is very important. for us, because we are very anxious”.

The 12th semester student, Raisa Lomanto, shared with her other colleagues her exchange experience in Clermont Ferrand, in the French countryside. For a year, she was able to develop her skills and get to know the French healthcare system up close. “It was really worth going. First, by meeting a lot of different people. Second, knowing a health system different from ours, which, in theory, looks better, but their system works better than ours. It was very good to know this system that has equal care with anyone living in France, whether French or not, has the same type of access to healthcare. There is not the divergence that we have here between the SUS and private care”. 

She also reports the positive aspects of personal and professional learning. “On the professional side, it was an advantage. We come back with the desire to have a system in Brazil that we know there. We come back with a desire to change and improve our system. And on the personal side, we learn to be much more welcoming and empathetic, as we go through situations where people are more difficult. So, we learn to put ourselves more in each other's shoes. We improve a little as a human being”.


Interview

The 12th semester student, Ludmila Cordeiro, also spent a year in France, doing exchange programs in Paris, also through the Science without Borders Program. Check out a little of this experience.

Would you indicate this experience? Why did you choose France?
I indicate yes, 100%. My choice for France, first of all, was because it is a country that allows foreign students to undertake an internship with practical experience, similar to what we have here in Brazil. We learned from doctors how to perform procedures, treat patients in another language, think in a different way, because the system is different, it's an experience that I point out.

How did you prepare for this exchange?
Before I thought about doing this exchange, I was already studying French (for two years). I was already doing research at CNPq and I wrote for the Science without Borders program. Because of the language, it was very difficult, at first, the first two months, but then it was learning all year long.

How to bring this experience to our reality?
Our real concern is with the health system that we see that it is possible to make a system that works, serving people with dignity and really solving problems. A resolutive system, as is the French. Of course it's not perfect, but it's very resolute, especially compared to ours. So, we can share what we've learned, share this knowledge and, increasingly, try to adapt to our reality.

What was it like to deal with a different patient profile?
It is, of course, positive. Here we are dealing with a profile of people from a developing country. We have people with more infectious, parasitic, etc. diseases. There is a profile of more chronic patients. There is more neoplasm, more autoimmune disease that we don't see much here. So, I think it is of great value to learn the epidemiological profile of another country, because I think that these diseases exist here, but in a smaller number of cases, but we were able to apply this knowledge as well.

What would you point to gains from this experience?
I would say French culture. When we leave the hospital and go through an exhibition, a free outdoor concert. The experience of having quality public transport – none of my colleagues had a car and no one was late to reach hospitals that were often far away. This cultural experience of the system working in another way is very edifying.