Since 1997 the Faculty of Medicine of Marília is promoting curricular changes in its Nursing and Medicine Courses. These changes imply in articulation of theory and practice, a teaching process based on significant learning centered on the student, in learning situations arising from the professional practice, approached in a multidisciplinary and multi-professional way. To this purpose, nursing and medicine students develop since the first year of their course activities in an integrated way, in contact with users and health professionals. During a period of two years, teams of students participate in the activities of Family Health Units, the so called Professional Practice Units. This article describes the experience of three students who had the opportunity to evaluate the health status and provide care to six families. This activity allowed the students to identify various health needs and made them seek for information from different sources in order to provide orientation and suggest strategies for improving the quality of life of the individuals The students conclude that this practice besides allowing for significant learning provided them with a better understanding of a reality of life distant from their own and the different values and needs of the users.
Curriculum; Teaching; Methods; Professional Practice
