This study focused on medical students' attitudes towards the physician-patient relationship, comparing two private Brazilian medical schools, one with a traditional curriculum (TC) and the other with a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Attitudes were measured with the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS). 132 students from the PBL school and 142 from the TC school completed data collection. Total PPOS scores were 4.62 and 4.45 for the PBL and TC medical schools, respectively (p=0.002), meaning more patient-centered attitudes among the PBL medical students. Among male students enrolled in the 10th semester, the total PPOS score was significantly higher in the PBL school. In both schools, as compared to men, women showed more decision-sharing attitudes with patients. Multivariate regression analysis showed that PPOS results were only explained by the school variable. This study found more patient-centered attitudes in the PBL school, which could be attributed to the curriculum model, since this was the only basic difference between the two schools.
Patient-Centered Care; Physician-Patient Relations; Education, Medical
