[Analysis of the concept of risk in a medical teaching program]

The concept of risk has acquired an extremely important place in medical care in the course of various social developments. This concept plays a role in the physician-patient relationship, especially as the form in which the physician provides information to the patient; it is also a form of medical knowledge. We propose a cross-sectional medical course module on this concept of risk, intended for medical students; it can be included in module 1 of the curriculum for the national ranking examination. This class enables a new approach to medical care by showing the variety of definitions of risk and facilitating their perception and integration. Through a process that is simultaneously epistemological and practical, it aims to associate the medical knowledge we use every day with the concept of risk and thereby help the students take a critical distance relative to the mass of available knowledge. This approach to medical knowledge through the concept of risk makes the knowledge more operational and more pertinent within the context of individual clinical situations and thus optimizes medical care. Its pedagogical techniques combine standard classroom lectures with workshops involving role-playing in specific scenarios. This original course meets the needs of medical students who are in the process of becoming health care providers--needs related to the analysis and use of available medical knowledge in their clinical practice and to some aspects of the patient-provider relationship.