Atenção oncológica no ensino de graduação em enfermagem: uma perspectiva discente

Abstract

Cancer is considered a public health problem in Brazil and worldwide. It is currently the second leading cause of death from disease in Brazil, with approximately 600 thousand new cases of disease in each year of the 2018-2019 biennium. Even in the face of this epidemiological scenario, the studies found on this subject show that most nursing schools incorporate oncology content insufficiently into their curriculum. Given this context, this study aims to analyze the teaching of oncology in the Nursing Undergraduate Course of a Federal University of the Northeast of Brazil from the student perspective. This is an exploratory research, descriptive-analytical, with a qualitative approach. The information production was based on the realization of a focal group with nursing undergraduates in order to know the student perception about the teaching of oncology in undergraduate studies. The data obtained from the focal group were analyzed in the light of Bardin's content analysis with the proposition of five analytical categories. The results showed that undergraduates consider the teaching of oncology to be insufficient in nursing education, due to the short time allocated to the theoretical contents and practical activities in oncology. There was also a gap in oncological care actions in primary care. In an attempt to avoid an analytical bias, the Pedagogical Political Project (PPP) was also used as a source of information in order to verify how the oncology was inserted in the course planning. For documentary exploration of the PPP, the National Guidelines for Undergraduate Nursing and Kramer's work were used, which provides subsidies for a critical analysis of pedagogical or curricular proposals, where the focus of the analysis was adapted to oncology. The results of the documentary analysis showed that PPP follows the generalist line guided by the National Curriculum Guidelines, where oncology is implicitly treated. It is believed that the results here found may contribute to arouse the need for approaching oncological care content in undergraduate nursing, and will serve as a basis for curriculum adequacy in the intention to train nurses with professional skills to deal with the epidemiological reality of cancer in the country and region of operation. From this research it was possible to elaborate two educational products, being a scientific article for publication purposes and a technical report that was delivered to the Course Collegiate.