Humanismo en la práctica de médicos cooperantes cubanos en Brasil: narrativas de equipos de atención básica

OBJECTIVE. To present the narratives of Brazilian members of family health teams with regard to the humanism perceived in the practice of Cuban physician cooperating in the Mais Médicos program. METHODS. Cross-sectional descriptive case study. A semi-structured interview was applied to Brazilian members of family health teams who had worked from the beginning of the program with Cuban physicians in selected municipalities included in the Mais Médicos program (20% or more of the population in extreme poverty and less than five physicians or a rate of 0.5 physicians per 1, 000 population prior to the program). The data were processed using the content analysis technique. RESULTS. Interviews were held with 30 senior nurses, 28 nursing assistants, one administrative technician, and 19 health agents. The interviewees offered a positive assessment of the work of the Cuban cooperating physicians, emphasizing their responsibility, ethics, and humanism, as well as the high quality of their medical -consultations and their good relations with their peers in basic health care teams. CONCLUSIONS. There were confirmed differences between the patterns of care of the Cuban cooperating physicians in the Mais Médicos program and the physicians who were working before in the studied communities prior to implementation of that program. The differential features of the Cuban physicians most frequently mentioned include their commitment to the population (both in medical consultations and in solving people’s problems), their empathy, their respect, and in general, the human values with which they treat patients.