Ethical and Semiotechnique Skills Gain for Medical Students

Aims: To evaluate ethical and semiotechnique skills gain with intensive semiotechnique course to graduate medical students. Methods: Semiotics course was drawn up to 64 students of four medical courses of Belem, Para, Brazil. The course took place in two stages: the first for 32 students starting the third semester of the medical course, and the second for 32 students that started the internship. The course was taught intensively in two weekends, with didactic material prepared by the researchers. Pre-and post-training assessment was performed for verification of ethical skills needed in the doctor-patient relationship and the practical knowledge and skill in the technical implementation of the physical examination. Results: The students of 2nd year, in the eight proposed stations, have an average gain of 85.84%, reaching individually in some stations an improvement up to 120% as "Precordium” and “painful maneuvers of the abdomen" stations. The students of the 5th year initial notes average was 6.06, evolving to 9.21, with average percentage of 54.42% gain. For matters of ethical principles in dealing with the patient was observed initial average 5.05 that after the course has evolved to 9.36 to students of 2nd year and 6.16 to 9.60 in fifth year. In the evaluation of performance in implementing the semiotechnique maneuvers were observed initial notes of 4.76 and 5.95 to 8.51 and 8.82 respectively for students of 2nd and 5th year. Conclusion: The intensive course implemented proved to be effective in semiotechnique skills gain, both in improving ethical attitudes in dealing with the patient, as well as on the playing technique of physical examination.