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CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1494445

Lessons learned from the expansion of medical schools in brazil: a review of challenges and opportunities

Provisionally accepted
Katia de Miranda Avena Katia de Miranda Avena 1,2Luiz Fernando Quintanilha Luiz Fernando Quintanilha 1Ricardo Luiz Luzardo Filho Ricardo Luiz Luzardo Filho 1Bruno Bezerril Andrade Bruno Bezerril Andrade 1,2*
  • 1 ZARNS College - Salvador, Salvador-BA, Brazil
  • 2 Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Salvador, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Brazil faces significant challenges in the equitable distribution of health professionals across its vast territory, with remote and underdeveloped areas often lacking doctors. Initiatives like “Programa Mais Médicos” have expanded medical courses and residency programs nationwide. Recently, new Ministry of Education guidelines authorized courses and increased slots in response to judicial demands, highlighting the complexity of Brazil's educational and health landscape. This initiative increased available slots, particularly in areas lacking healthcare professionals, and attracted private institutions to the medical sector. Despite advancements in expansion and geographical distribution, there are criticisms and challenges facing the current medical training process. Against this backdrop, this study offers a critical analysis of Brazil’s medical education, drawing from the experience of experts involved in the implementation of new medical schools in the Brazilian Northeast and Midwest regions. The study outlines the history, challenges, and outcomes of government policies, reflecting on future impacts and contributing to the debate on medical training quality and health service provision amidst the expansion and privatization of medical education in the country. We hope the lessons and insights can guide Brazil and other countries facing similar challenges, inspiring innovative and sustainable solutions to complex issues of doctor shortage and unequal distribution.

    Keywords: Medical education1, Medical schools2, Undergraduate medical education3, Privatization and access to higher education4, Medical education -graduate5

    Received: 10 Sep 2024; Accepted: 20 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Avena, Quintanilha, Luzardo Filho and Andrade. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bruno Bezerril Andrade, ZARNS College - Salvador, Salvador-BA, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.