Death and dying: representations of medical graduates

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the impressions of undergraduates in medicine about their academic training for health service in relation to death and dying. Methodology: descriptive, exploratory, quantitative study, carried out at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the city of Teresina, Piauí. The target population consisted of 113 students from the medical school of the institution. Results and Discussion: The results revealed weaknesses in the students' training processes in contexts involving death; however, the experiences in finitude were recognized as necessary for qualification in the confrontation of feelings such as impotence, insecurity and fear, which directly influence the development of health care. The interviewees reported that the subjects that addressed the theme were ethics, bioethics and psychiatry. In addition, they reported previous knowledge regarding the subject, relating it to the naturalness of the human being and also being part of the vital process itself. Conclusion: Thus, it was possible to verify that the lack of understanding of death, understood as a failure and professional impotence, can be solved through problematizations and discussions about the phenomenon of death and dying still in academic space.