Introduction

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) once again opened up its doors to receive about 130 pupils from secondary schools from all over the country interested in the area of health sciences. This event has been strongly supported by the School, as part of our mission is to provide a meeting point between our institution and the outside, thus guaranteeing a space for dialogue with society in general.

In order to achieve this quality, values such as transparency, sharing, communication and interaction guide us through a process of continuous improvement.

The secondary school students who wish to get to know the FMUL have shown interest in visiting it as they consider that the experience of visiting the places of teaching-learning brings them valid information and contributes towards clarifying doubts about their decision to make in choosing their place to begin a Integrated Masters Course in Medicine.

Based on the experience acquired the previous year, the FMUL organizing committee took care to: (i) publicise news of the event suitably in advance, (ii) choose the date that will be most convenient for both teachers and students in the secondary and university populations according to their school year, (iii) prepare the rotating scale of visits to the teaching-learning and teaching-research establishments so as to create an interactive environment and (iv) to increase the number of tutors by using voluntary students from the several different years of the FMUL.

Professor Carlota Saldanha and Sónia Barroso members of organizing committee; Professors Miguel Oliveira e Silva, António Nobre and J. Fernandes e Fernandes.

Description

The event took place on the premises of the Egas Moniz Building from 9 am to 6 pm, and before it began a questionnaire was given about the expectations of the 127 participants from the secondary schools. After the welcome session, in which the Dean explained “What the FMUL is”, there followed a presentation of FMUL Research by the Executive Director of the IMM, Professor Carmo Fonseca, who granted some of her time to two students who explained their views. According to the programme, there were then talks on Learning Medicine by Professor Vaz Carneiro, Ethics of the Medical Student by Professor Miguel Oliveira e Silva and Humanitarian Medicine by the Director of the AMI, Professor Fernando Nobre. Before and after the lunch break there were the visits, in turns, to the Anatomy Theatre, the Institute of Clinical Semiotics, the Laboratory of Surgical Practice and of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation and to the high-tech laboratories of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM). 

The talk by the FMUL Secretary, Dr. David Xavier, provided clarification of doubts about “Admission to the FMUL”.

To close the event, the FMUL Students’ Association enlightened the future candidates about the Association itself, how it works and what its activities are; there was then a performance by the Lisbon Medical Academic Band, which entertained us with some songs.

A questionnaire was given out to the students with questions about their degree of satisfaction with the event and also about the set of factors of influence in their possible choice of the FMUL.

Results

The 127 pupils participating in the event came from secondary schools in the Portuguese districts of Viseu, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém, Lisbon, Setúbal, Beja and Faro, and answered the questionnaire about expectations, which allowed us to obtain a profile by (i) sex, (ii) type of public or private teaching, (iii) means of finding out about the event, (iv) reason for participating in the event, (v) perception of the significance of medicine, (vi) reason for choosing the course, (vi) expectations about the course, and (vii) main reason for choosing the FMUL. Results of the Questionnaire

Out of the 127 participants 101 filled out the final survey which included the questions about satisfaction (i) programme contents, (ii) visits, (iii) logistical organisation, (iv) strong and weak points, and (v) main gains from having participated in the event, and repeated question about the possible main reason for choosing the FMUL. Evaluation of the event

We highlight some of the observation about the impact of the event on candidates’ choices.
When the replies obtained in the two questionnaires are compared in relation to the question about the “main reason that might lead to choosing the FMUL” it can be seen that proximity to home was surpassed by others such as the study plan, quality of teaching and research activities that the FMUL offers.

Conclusions

All of the participating secondary school pupils considered that the event was very useful for their choice, as they got to know the premises and to interact with the FMUL teachers, researchers and students.

For the organizing team this was yet another success, a challenge that they managed to meet with the effort and dedication of a multidisciplinary team that is already getting ready to make the next Studying Medicine at the FMUL – Candidate’s Day event even better, with more activities and surprises for the visiting pupils.

See you next year!

José Fernandes e Fernandes, Dolores Machado, Lilia Louro, Marta Agostinho, Nuno Rodrigues, Paula Melo, Pedro Marçal, Sofia Cruz, Sónia Barroso, Carlota Saldanha
Direction and Office of Planning and Evaluation
217985188
gpa@fm.ul.pt

Thanks to:
FMUL Students’ Association
IMM
GAPAE
Inês Agostinho
Rita Goes

Support:
BES
Carris
Central de Cervejas
El Corte Inglés