The professional training in medicine: medical error in a Latin-American country

Abstract

To understand the process of medical training in Brazil, based on physicians’ experiences on med-ical error. A qualitative study was conducted with 20 Brazilian physicians, 10 physicians without errors and 10 with some type of medical error. Both groups highlighted the lack of a discussion during training and in the workplace, and the group with errors highlights the work institution’s concern with the quality and patient safety due to the disclosure. Finally, problems throughout medical training end up producing physicians of dubious professional quality, according to the group without errors. In the group with errors the competitive labor market may be a selection criterion for more efficient physicians. It is necessary expand the discussion about medical errors during the training of medical professionals.