La enseñanza de la medicina preventiva y social en la Escuela de Medicina José Vargas, Universidad Central de Venezuela

Abstract

The authors describe the origin, development, and future plans of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine recently established at the José Vargas School of Medicine of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. The Department began to function in January 1962 with a training program for the first and second years of the medical career. In the following academic year (1962-1963) the program extended into the third year, and in 1963-1964 into the fourth year. The Department hopes to cover a six-year training program. Its method of work is based on a greater coordination with the other departments of the School of Medicine, and on the continuous teaching of preventive and social medicine throughout the entire medical curriculum. Theoretical training is reduced to a minimum and greater emphasis is placed on objective teaching and on practice, which is offered at the preventive, medical, and social institutions of Caracas and surrounding areas. The present curriculum includes: first year, statistical methods in medicine; second year, social and anthropological aspects of medicine, microbiology, and epidemiology; third year, specialized microbiology and epidemiology, and applied preventive and social medicine, i.e., basic notions of environmental sanitation, health promotion, and social problems; and fourth year, clinical aspects of preventive medicine. The proposed plan for the fifth