Health education: learning from professional practice

This study characterizes the Medicine and Nursing students' learning from their integration into professional practice during the initial series of the courses. This is a documentary research with a qualitative approach, conducted through the analysis of 21 portfolios written by Medicine and Nursing freshmen and sophomores in 2015 and 2016. These students are from a Higher Education Institution of the inland of São Paulo, which uses active learning methods and integrates students into primary care scenarios. Data were interpreted through content analysis thematic modality. We identified that this integration facilitates their appropriation of the guiding principles of the Unified Health System; to understand the factors that prevail in the health-disease process in an expanded way with the care centered on the health needs of households and the community; to develop skills to work in a humanized group and interdisciplinary team, valuing empathy. We found that students are learning about the current Brazilian Health System and practicing their possibilities of operation, besides the values necessary to develop the teamwork required for person-centered care.