Brazilian Society of Family Medicine

Society information

Brief Description of SOBRAMFA's works in Promoting Family Medicine in Brazil

1. What is SOBRAMFA

SOBRAMFA- Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina de Família (Brazilian Society for Family Medicine) is an academic society founded in 1992 in São Paulo, Brazil, by a group of doctors, most of them specialists and some faculty from several medical schools. SOBRAMFA's aim, pointed out in the statement, is "to promote family medicine and to establish the proper basis and scientific methodology for family practice".

Along the last years, SOBRAMFA, which is the very first initiative to promote Family Medicine in Brazil, have spread the family medicine philosophy among the medical students through Congresses, Academic Meetings, Family Medicine Seminars, International Meetings setted in Brazil, and Continuous Medical Education Courses.

From 1993 on SOBRAMFA leads the Family Medicine Committee in the APM (Associação Paulista de Medicina - São Paulo Medical Association) related to the ABM (Associação Médica Brasileira- Brazilian Medical Association) where many of the academics meetings happened.

During these years SOBRAMFA's board realized that its main role is beside the medical students, finding paths to develop Family Medicine into the Medical Schools in Brazil, and promoting vocations among the students for the future family doctors. By now, the SOBRAMFA academic branch has representative engaged people -students and residents- in several medical schools in Brazil.

2. SOBRAMFA's Perspectives

The Principles and Values from SOBRAMFA to promote Family Medicine in Medical Schools in Brazil, are pointed out below. They come from agreements between SOBRAMFA and some educational institutions interested in develop Family Medicine.

Vision

• To promote a change in the process of Brazilian Medical Education, fostering social responsibility and citizenship in future doctors, in order to support health demands coming from the Brazilian community.

Goals

• Institute Family Medicine into Brazilian Medical Schools
• Collaborate in the training of medical students, developing the capacity for providing Family Practice and Primary Care
• Integrate the medical students into the community and its real needs, increasing their sense of citizenship and social responsibility as doctors.
• Cooperate in providing a humanistic and anthropologic education for future physicians, aimed at developing an integrated professional structure
• Develop research projects, based on the Brazilian social reality, in order to help construct a proper framework able to support the needs of our society.
• Prepare future Residency Programmes in Family Medicine, through continuous work in training family medicine teachers and faculty.
• Provide future teachers for medical schools, grounded in the educational perspective obtained through the methodology used in family practice.
• Collaborate in the selection process of candidates for medical schools, including developing integrated projects between medical schools and pre-university instruction, that will helpclarify the doctor's role and commitment to the community.
• Create integrated systems between the University and the community, using Family Medicine models, for promoting health, health education, and prevention.

 

3. SOBRAMFA's Achievements.

3.1 Medical Students and Medical Schools

• During the last years SOBRAMFA devoted the best efforts to engage medical students along with the Family Medicine Philosophy. Almost 3000 (three thousand) students were involved in some of the activities promoted by SOBRAMFA.

• Family Medicine Interested Groups were created in 8 Medical Schools in São Paulo State, and students from other 10 ten Medical Schools came to SOBRAMFA's meetings.

• SOBRAMFA runs an academic project called PRAMEF-21 (academic project for the 21 Century Family Doctor) setted in a Academic Ambulatory where students from 5 different medical schools see patients from de the community, learn skills and methodology of Patient Centered Medicine, and share with their peers about experiences in learning, in a reflective practicing manner.

 

From 1997 to now, the Monthly Meetings of the Family Medicine Committee in the APM (Associação Paulista de Medicina - São Paulo Medical Association) are leaded by the students. An innovative learning model, student-teaching-student is setted in this ongoing medical education course, focussed on family medicine knowledge.