[Learning styles in medical residents and their professors of a pediatric hospital.]

Background: the learning styles are cognitive, emotional, and psychological characteristics, which function as relatively stable indicators of how teachers and students perceive, interact, and respond to their learning environments. Knowing students' styles allows teachers to have tools to improve medical education. Our objective was to identify learning styles in pediatric residents and professors from a pediatric hospital. Methods: a learning styles questionnaire was applied to residents and theirs professors; data was analyzed in SPSS 12 software. Results: the dominant learning style in pediatric residents was reflexive and for professors was theoretical. There wasn't any difference between sexes or between medical or surgical specialities. There was more correlation between professors and residents when there was an increase in training time. Conclusions: the learning styles between professors and residents are different, especially at the beginning of the medical specialty courses; that's why it is necessary to realize a confrontation between the students' learning styles and teaching methods used by professors to improve significant learning. To know learning styles gives residents an important alternative to find a better study strategy.