“The teaching of occupational medicine in the College Courses in Brazil”

Introduction
The Conventions number 155 and 161 of ILO and 1988 Brazilian Constitution justify the country’s need to prepare professionals to practice in the area of workers’ health. Similar studies in other countries were evaluated in order to compare information. The objective of this paper is present the results of a poll carried out to find out the national situation of the teaching of occupational medicine in the under graduate courses of medicine. The study answered the following questions: 1- proportion of schools that included the subject in their curriculum; 2- the characteristic or the teaching staff; 3- how the subject is taught; 4- the matters discussed; 5- the references that are offered to students; 6- the main difficulties.

Methods
1- Official register of the Education Ministry indicates that 179 medical schools are authorized in the country. It was possible to contact 159 of them. A questionnaire was sent and 39 answers were received.

Results
The schools that teach occupational medicine are more often in the southeast region of the country, being occupational medicine a compulsory subject in most cases. The visits to work places and the discussion of clinical cases are used as learning tools in the majority of them. The relationship between the number of students per professor was one professor for more than 40 students in 15 (38,5%) of the schools. The number and the subjects that were taught were variable. References indicated to the students were also variable. Only in 26 (66,6%) schools, the discipline was evaluated by the students like excellent or good.

Discussion
Although the participation of the Schools in this study was smaller than intended, it was enough to conclude that the teaching of occupational medicine in Medical Schools in Brazil is insipient and demands more attention from the educational authorities.