[Community health. Innovating in the training of family and community medicine residents]

Abstract

Objective: To know the opinions of the agents involved in the training of family and community medicine residents in order to improve the training process of the «Project to Support the Revitalization of Primary Care; Assets for Community Health» (PARAC) taking into account its adequacy, contextualization and the methodologies used.

Method: Qualitative interpretative-explanatory study of phenomenological orientation, multilevel and multicenter, in which the opinion of the participants is analyzed. Between 2018 and 2020, 12 focus groups and 24 semi-structured interviews were carried out, with the participation of sixty-seven professionals from six health districts of Andalusia (Spain), who were involved in the PARAC training process.

Results: The participants consider it necessary to broaden training in community health for residents. To this end, they consider it necessary to make changes in the training plan of the specialty, giving more importance to primary health care than to hospital rotations. They value positively the methodologies used in the PARAC training process, which they consider «novel», and the choice of young teachers to serve as references. In order for their interventions in the territory to be carried out with quality and safety for the population, they ask that specific times and spaces be guaranteed for community health, as well as adequate supervision to help ensure the coherence and continuity of their interventions.

Conclusions: Training in community health for family and community medicine residents requires a pedagogical, didactic and curricular effort that prepares them for work with the community, as well as the guarantee of organizational conditions that allow this work.

Keywords: Atención primaria de salud; Educación médica; Enseñanza; Health promotion; Intership and residency; Medical education; Primary health care; Promoción de la salud; Residencia médica; Teaching.