Summary:
This article describes an evaluative study of the preclinical activities in the Brasília medical education program which feature an interdisciplinary approach. It is grounded on a 3 - year educational survey based upon an inventory completed by the students. The purpose of the study was to determine students´ appreciation of some conditions, processes, and outcomes of the instruction after the change from the block to the credit registration system.
The evidence obtained shows that most students find the preclinical programs a meaningful and valuable learning experience. They see advantages in the pattern entailed by the interdisciplinary studies. At the same time, they point out the shortcomings in the processes of instruction. These are partially associated with restrictions both on teachers´ effectiveness, and perhaps also on students´ coping capacity. Lastly, there are clues which suggest that the alleged negative impact of the curricular change-over is decreasing.