Distribution of adult semiology in medical schools in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Semiology is the basis of clinical practice and its teaching is essential in the medical course. This study was developed to fill a gap in the knowledge about its distribution in Brazil. Objective: To analyze the distribution of adult semiology in Brazilian medical schools. Method: Cross-sectional descriptive study with 226 Brazilian medical schools that provided the distribution of semiology on the Internet among the 335 active schools in December 2020 (67.5%) The variables studied were school geographic region, administration and free tuition, time of existence of the course, course load of the regular course, clerkship and semiology, and year(s) or semester(s) in which semiology was offered in the curriculum. Data analysis was descriptive and the associations were analyzed using: Student’s t, Chi-square, Analysis of Variance, Mann-Whitney-U, Kruskal Wallis and Wilcoxon tests. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. Result: Semiology was more frequently offered only in the 4th semester (n = 40), followed by its offer in two semesters, the 4th and 5th and 3rd and 4th. Among the 226 schools, 142 integrated semiology into modules or axes (62.8%). Among the 117 schools that provided the semiology course load, its median was 240.0 hours (P25-75 = 165.4 - 338.2), with no statistical difference by geographic region, type of administration and time of existence of the course. The median of the theoretical course load [77.5 hours (P25-75 = 51.7 - 123.5)] was lower than the practical course load [147.0 hours (P25-75 = 64.5 - 180.0)], Z = - 3,99, p < 0,01. The median of the percentage of semiology course load during the course was 2.9% (P25-75 = 2.0 - 4.0). Conclusion: Semiology is more frequently offered in the 4th semester and its median course load is similar in Brazilian geographic regions and by school administration type and time of existence of the assessed schools.