Although Homeopathy is a medical specialty recognized by the Federal Counsel of Medicine since 1980, with established scientific purposes, diversified clinical applications, projects in basic and clinical research, available at the public health services and with initiatives towards inclusion in the curriculum of higher medical education, the lack of information about this peculiar practice is still deeply rooted in the medical culture. The aim of this study was to measure the lack of information about the premises of homoeopathy existing among medicine students participating in the 33rd Scientific Meeting of Medicine Students (33º Encontro Científico de Estudantes de Medicina) - São Paulo, 2003. The knowledge was measured by means of a self-applicable questionnaire distributed in the beginning of the didactic activity. The students answering the questionnaire considered "prerogatives of homeopathy" natural treatment (18%), placebo effect (14%), and the mystic-religious aspect (4.5%); "indications for homeopathic treatment" were Recebido em: 23/02/2006 restricted to chronic diseases (52%) or psychosomatic diseases (18%); "inexistence of a scienti- fic basis" was affirmed by basic research (21%) and clinical research (29%), "slow therapeutic response" by 57%, and "absence of adverse effects" in case of inadequate use of homeopathic drugs by 71%. Above all, 43% of the students did not recognize homeopathy as a "medical specialty", all of them ignored that it was "available at the public health services" and 64% did not know about its "inclusion in the curriculum of some Medical Schools". Considering that all students demonstrated "great interest in studying it", be it as compulsory (64%) or as optional discipline (36%), it is suggested that information about the fundamental aspects of homeopathy should be transmitted in the first years of medical graduation.
Education, Medical; Homeopathy; Complementary Medicine; Attitude; Curriculum