[Benefits for the nation: population health care]

The best way to assess the Social Service is by measuring its impact on the population, on the health care institutions and on the very students in Social Service. Yet, we have to face the difficulty to obtain reliable data to measure those benefits beyond any doubt. How much the health system is really benefited from these students in relation to the benefits for the population and to the students themselves is also a matter of speculation. Thus, the Social Service could be evaluated as a public policy, a medical act, and a teaching process, if it is really so. The number of consultations provided is not enough, since also preventive actions and health promotion activities are also performed which are even harder to be measured.