O papel da filosofia na educação médica

O significado da Medicina variou grandemente ao longo da Historia, desde o carater filosofico do periodo hipocratico ao cientificismo pragmatico da atualidade. Acompanhando o desenvolvimento cientifico-tecnologico, que afastou a Medicina das ciencias humanas, inserindo-a entre as ciencias exatas e biologicas, o ensino medico tornou-se fragmentado e tecnicista. O surgimento de um novo tipo de medico, biologicista e especialista, nao atendeu as necessidades da sociedade, que exige um profissional capaz de rempreender elacao medico-paciente satisfatoria. Nesse contexto, tornou-se importante discutir como humanizar, ou reumanizar, a Medicina. O ensino da Filosofia durante a formacao medica e sugerido como uma das formas de humanizacao da Medicina. A compreensao por parte do medico das doutrinas filosoficas seria importante na formacao de profissionais com visao reflexiva e critica sobre a pratica da Medicina. Sao apresentados exemplos de faculdades que incluiram disciplinas de Filosofia no curriculo medico de graduacao e os resultados dessas experiencias. Citam-se ainda as limitacoes da escola medica como agente de humanizacao, uma vez que a formacao humanistica do individuo e um processo complexo e dependente do ambiente, dos valores e das vivencias previas. The meaning of Medicine has drastically changed along History, from the philosophical feature of the hippocratic period to the pragmatic scientificism in the current days. Following the scientific-technological development that withdrew Medicine from human sciences has approximated it to the exact and biological sciences, the medical teaching became fragmented and technicist. The emergence of a new biologicist and specialized type of physician did not fulfill society?s demands, which requires not only a technically updated professional, but also someone capable of a have satisfactory physician-patient relationship. In this context the discussion on how to humanize or re-humanize Medicine becames important. Teaching Philosophy during the medical formation has been suggested as an alternative means to humanize Medicine. The comprehension of the philosophical principles would be important in the formation of these professionals with the objective of providing physicians with a critical and reflexive view of the clinical practice. Examples of medical schools that included Philosophy in the graduation medical curriculum and the results of these experiences are presented. The limitations of medical schools as humanization agents are also reported, since the individual?s humanistic formation is an extremely complex process and depends on environment, values and previous experiences.