Tuberculosis: are the future health professionals prepared for adequate patient care?

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (1) . The literature shows that the multiprofessional team responsible for managing tuberculosis is not able to dealing with re-emergence of the disease, in addition acting in non-integral and humanized way. Objective: To check if university students that will be inserted in primary care are able to identify and manage patients with tuberculosis. Methods and materials: Semi-structured questionnaires were applied to students of the last periods of health courses. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results: Most of the interviewees said they have already had contact with the topic tuberculosis during graduation. Regarding the manifestations, 65 (38.24%) considered cough, weight loss, fever, loss of appetite, nocturnal sweating and weakness as the main symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis. In contrast, 97 (57.06%) considered the presence of hemoptoic sputum as the main manifestation. The minority of the interviewees knew how to correctly define a respiratory symptomatic subject. Conclusion: Through the analysis of the results it is possible to notice that the university is the main source of knowledge of the university students about tuberculosis. One had identified gaps to be filled, as in relation to the manifestations of the disease, the difficulty in identifying a respiratory symptomatic subject, the lack of knowledge of the change in the vaccination schedule and mandatory rapid HIV testing. In addition, it is noticed that there is difficulty in the adequate management of the patients. In view of the results, there is a need to improve teaching in relation to tuberculosis.