Abstract:

Since medical students belong to a society that values specialized and technological medical practice, sometimes shifting physicians away from a more humamstic interpretation of patients, the purpose of this study was to characterize the discourse of undergraduate medical students who had attended curricular and extra-curricular Acupuncture courses at Unifesp-EPM, as well as to identify their perspectives toward Acupuncture education in undergraduate medical studies. The qualitative research included in-depth interviews with twelve medicine students at the Unifesp-EPM using a thematic script. The interviews were interpreted using the content analysis research technique, aiming to reveal significant unit, that were analyzed according to a social-anthropological view of Medicine. From the student's point of view, Acupuncture and Conventional Medicine merely comprise one single field of Medicine, corresponding to different approaches to the patient, with Acupuncture taking a more holistic approach, thus motivating them to attend Acupuncture classes.

Key-words:
Acunputure, Education; Students, Medical; Traditional Chinese Medicine; Physician-Patient Relationship; Curriculum