Diagnosis of the Denomination of Administrative and Academic Organizational Spaces of Medical Courses in the Field of Public Health

An ecological study

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the impact on medical education, the processes of 'structuring' and 'naming' organizational formats require continuous improvement in response to social changes in their expression in the production of knowledge in public health, which is not always adequately acknowledged. Therefore, the aim of this study is to diagnose the affiliation of Brazilian medical courses with the paradigms of the historical field of public health. Methodology: In this cross-sectional case study, a survey was conducted on institutions with recognized or in-process medical courses approved by the Ministry of Education. The study involved identifying administrative or academic structures corresponding to Public Health, their related postgraduate programs (if applicable), and organizing this data by macro-region, federative unit, administrative organization, and the National Student Performance Examination index. Discussion of Results: A slight predominance (37.89%) of medical courses adhering to the paradigm of public health was observed. However, this trend was only valid in the Southeast (51.11%) and Central-West (66.67%) regions, in the analysis by macro-regions. In 75% of private institutions, the organizational structure could not be identified. No correlation was established between the administrative category, National Student Performance Examination index and the institution's ability to embrace the 'new' paradigm. Final Considerations: Even though a substantial number of institutions do not attribute sufficient importance to their organizational structure and the difficulty in recognizing certain interrelationships, important questions arise regarding the theme that can be addressed in subsequent studies.