Vascular surgery core curriculum for medical degrees in Brazil: a proposal

Background  Vascular surgery (VS) is the medical area focused on the study of the vascular system, being an integral part of the content to be incorporated by the general practitioner. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the essential VS competencies for medical practice in Brazil.

Objectives  Define the most relevant themes in the VS for generalist medical training, developing a core curriculum (CC) for undergraduate medical courses in Brazil, and apply the matrix proposed in a pilot study with first-year resident doctors in internal medicine, gynecology and obstetrics, general surgery and family and community medicine.

Methods  Construction and validation of content by ten professors of a CC proposal in VS for medical graduation, using the Delphi consensus method, with its subsequent application among residents, to evaluate it in the graduation experience of 35 graduates.

Results  The instrument developed and validated in terms of content by the panel of teachers identified 17 of the 31 themes presented as essential, which were considered the CC of VS (anatomy, physiology, venous thromboembolism, diabetic foot and atherosclerosis). Peripheral arterial disease and extracranial cerebral ischemia were considered to have little or no development during medical graduation.

Conclusions  The proposal and validation of a CC in VS, in the opinion of teachers, was a consensus and enabled the formulation of a concise and applicable research instrument. The qualification of the residents' experience on these topics served to understand which areas of teaching can be improved for primary medical care related to VS.

Keywords:
curriculum; competency-based education; medical education; vascular diseases; vascular surgical procedures; internship and residency