Bandeira Científica: medical care outside the hospital practiced by undergraduate students

Abstract

“Bandeira Científica” is a extension project of University of São Paulo created in 1957 that annually develops interdisciplinary educational, scientific and healthcare activities in different regions of Brazil. The project team involves around 160 students and 50 professionals from different areas of knowledge working in an interdisciplinary way. It covers an eight-month preparatory phase aimed at identifying cities’ demands as well as selecting and preparing the students and professionals that will take part on a expedition, lasting ten days. In the expedition itself, these students work at outpatient clinics, perform domiciliary visits, collect scientific data and develop educational activities. The healthcare activities are carried out exclusively by Medical Students, with the help and supervision of university residents, from several different specialties. This consists in a vast opportunity to learn about the different pathologies treated at the expedition, applying technical and scientific knowledge within the project and the city’s limitations, improve their semiologic abilities and getting to know a completely different reality in their own country. It is the project’s firm belief that this experience helps students shape the way they practice Medicine into a more humanized paradigm, taking into account the many different psychological, social and economic aspects of disease, rather than understanding Health solely as a biological process.