Medical students’ perceptions about the potential and limitations of humanized care

This article presents the perceptions and reflections of students doing the course “Medicine and Narratives”. The corpus of the study consisted of the portfolios of 21 students, analyzed using the software Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires, IRaMuTeQ®. Two subcorpus emerged: “Reflecting on Possibilities and Barriers in the Doctor-Patient Relationship” and “Humanizing Tools”. It can be inferred that the students represent the medical profession, showing important relational components associating technical competence with a different way of looking at the other, despite the differences between sexes and semester. The group emphasized communication skills and empathy, although the latter was described as something that has been lost. It can be concluded that the module helped the students make some important reflections.

Keywords
Curriculum; Medical education; Health narratives; Humanization of care