Ensino sobre excesso de peso na graduação de um curso de Medicina: realidade, reflexões e propostas

Abstract

The World Health Organization points to obesity as one of the biggest public health problems in the world. In Brazil, overweight and obesity are growing steadily, so 50% of the population is overweight. Therefore, it has become a public health issue for which the physician must be able to care. Given this scenario and the scarcity of national and local studies on medical education and overweight, this research, entitled: The clinical management of overweight: knowledge of medical students, This study aimed to verify the knowledge, self-confidence and attitudes in the management of people with OW in a sample of medical school students from a federal school in northeastern Brazil. The research developed was descriptive and transversal, with quantitative approach. A Likert questionnaire was applied, consisting of 27 statements to 32 interns. The questionnaire was organized in four dimensions: the importance of the theme as a public health problem; knowledge about the approach to the overweight person; self-confidence in the management of the overweight person and behavioral aspects in front of the overweight person. The results showed that inmates recognize OW as a public health problem and a relevant theme in the graduation of the general practitioner. However, it evidenced the lack of knowledge and self-confidence in the management of the person with OW. Thus, it indicates that there is a need for improvement and short and medium term measures in the curriculum of the researched school. There is a pressing need for the course to offer learning opportunities to relate theory and collaborative, inter-professional, patient-centered practice. Taking as a guide these results and the suggestions made by the inmates, in an open question applied at the end of the questionnaire, a technical research report was developed, entitled: Facing the invisibility of overweight in the medical curriculum: suggestions to managers. In this product, investment in the medical course is supported by the introduction of “healthy” policies in the medical school environment, through a healthy lifestyle incentive program, with transversal and frequent interventions in the curriculum, emphasizing the Importance of Personal Health Behaviors and Professional Skills in Supporting Lifestyle Change. The need to construct educational interventions on the management of people with OW from the beginning of the undergraduate course, with appropriate pedagogical methods and techniques, in various scenarios is claimed. Interdisciplinary and inter-professional context is suggested, allowing the development of reflexive critical thinking, essential for clinical practice.