[Learning and teaching medicine. Brazilian experiences and the new pathways at Harvard].

Abstract

A few Brazilian medical teaching programs carried out during the last 40 years, in which the author has participated or has been a witness, are presented and discussed. The examples of the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, the Medical School of Botucatu and the Catholic University Medical School of Campinas are cited. The "new pathway" to teach and learn medicine, introduced at the Harvard Medical School, is described as a model of the collaborative and cooperative teaching methodology, implanted in the United States and in a few other countries. The need and possibility of introducing new methods of learning and teaching of medicine in Brazil is presented and debated.