Perceptions of medicine students and healthcare professionals about primary health professionals' training to cope with the COVID-19 epidemic

Abstract

In Brazil, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in February 2020, and Minas Gerais state, in March 2020, precisely in the municipality of Divinópolis. Primary Health Care (PHC) is the gateway to the health system, making it the most likely way to seek outpatients with respiratory symptoms. Thus, an extension project coordinated by professors, with the participation of students from the medical course, from a public university in MG, was created to contribute to facing the pandemic at the loco-regional level. Qualified students were divided into groups guided by one of the teachers, and within the PHC units in the municipality, they trained the teams, using the methodology of realistic case simulations. At the end of the health units training phase, all the teams in the municipality were assisted. In turn, the perception of students and professionals about the experience during the process was a significant contribution to the community and the health service, in addition to having a significant impact on the training of participating students, reinforcing the feeling of social responsibility.