Quando retomar aulas práticas em tempos de pandemia? Indicadores e a viabilização de aulas práticas presenciais

With the spread and the high rates of infection and mortality due to the new coronavirus, countries all over the world have had to adapt to the new pandemic scenario. In higher education, universities closed their doors and classes started to be remote, and in Brazil, there is no forecast of return in some educational institutions. The consequences for education are diverse, but courses like medicine, in which learning in practice in direct contact with the health user, the damage is immeasurable. It is extremely important to seek a safe return to practical classes, trying to understand the difficulties and the situation of the city, trying to face them together and providing service to the community. In this scenario, this study aims to carry out a review of evidence and local, national, and international experiences about medical education in practical settings in times of pandemic, seeking to present a proposal with a set of indicators to support the decision-making process for the return of practical classes in undergraduate medicine. To this end, an umbrella-type review of different data sources was carried out from April to May 2021. As results, five key indicators were listed as important for the decision-making process about the resumption of practical classes in health services. These indicators are presented in the following topics. From this, their application in a reality is presented, and then, it was possible to conclude that Jatai, headquarters of the Federal University of Jatai, has an epidemiological profile similar to some of the Brazilian regions that have already implemented face-to-face classes, such as Goiânia and Mato Grosso do Sul, allowing the reflection on the possibility of a possible return of face-to-face activities at this university.