The training of a new social-responsible generation of health professionals with a patient-centered vision

Abstract

Abstract The challenges that Latin America faces in health are deeply related to others, such as access to clean water, the right to education, and housing. Health professionals that work in an environment where the population faces constant barriers to accessing care in the public health system or has limited resources to pay for it in a private sector will face an ethical dilemma, the question of how to honor the call to care for patients when there is not enough support system or infrastructure to do so. Within the schools of medicine and health sciences, the question is how to train students to face or resolve these conflicts. The social responsibility approach is a proposal that allows the alignment of education for health professionals and health systems to contribute to the creation of an effective, equitable, and sustainable system. The present article aims to discuss this problem from the importance of training health professionals, ethical and committed to their communities, that have the skills and attitudes to implement a patient-centered vision. The involvement of universities and training institutions of the next generation of health professionals cannot be postponed.