Plastic Surgery Training at Medical School in the Context of Brazil

ABSTRACT Despite the large number of qualified plastic surgeons in Brazil, young doctors and general practitioners need to have a basic knowledge of plastic surgery to enable them to act appropriately in first aid, emergency or elective clinical situations, either to refer patients or provide basic life support and protection. Plastic surgery training for undergradutate medical students has to consider the aforementioned situations as well as the socioeconomic environment of Brazil and the requirements and restrictions on the choice of plastic surgery skills and knowledge that the student must absorb at medical school. Furthermore, such programs should encourage plastic surgery-inclined students to pursue the adequate residence training and later board examination. This article reports on 10 years of experience in plastic surgery education for medical students, at Universidade Positivo in Curitiba, Brazil. The integration between the disciplines of Outpatient Surgery and Clinical Surgery resulted in the students’ positive evaluation of the program, interesting feedback regarding its successful application outside the medical school and at least five specialists/plastic surgery residents out of the 265 students who graduated in the first five classes.