INTRODUCTION: This study proposes to analyzes students' views of the course in medicine at the Federal University in Minas Gerais (UFMG) in relation to the development of the Educational Program for Health Work (PET-Saúde), the objective of which is to integrate training with primary care services. OBJECTIVE: Investigate students' perceptions of the method of interdisciplinary integration between teaching, research and extension as proposed by PET-Saúde. METHOD: For data collection, a cross-sectional study was conducted with students in PET-Saúde, using a self-completed structured questionnaire. The study used a descriptive analysis and chi-square and Fischer's exact test (p<0.05). RESULTS: The study sample included 194 students, with a mean age of 22.7 years (±3.26), of whom 86.8% were women and 72.9% scholarship students. The proposed method fostered teaching and learning by scholarship students and volunteers, interdisciplinary work, and integration between training, research, and extension. Medical students from the second to fifth semesters (73.7%) were those that reported the most frequent training practices (p<0.001). The most frequent activities were research and planning of activities, with differences between scholarship students and volunteers in terms of participation in the activities held by the Family Health Teams (85.3% versus 52.9%; p=0.01) and in the capacity to share the research results in the community (35.5% versus 87.0%; p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The PET-Saúde project at UFMG/SMSA-BH led to improvements, but also limitations, in relation to changes in human resources training in health.
Health Education; Student; Primary Health Care; Health System
