Introduction

Cultural competence is needed for future professionals to know how to work in different settings.

Methods

A prospective cohort study, with a group of nursing and medicine students, assessed by means of a pre-internship questionnaire and reflective portfolio after four months of the internship, the students’ level of knowledge of public policies related to the indigenous population and their opinions on education and health practices aimed at indigenous people.

Results

Less than 67% of the students were aware of the indigenous health care policy; all of them indicated the need for the curriculum to give greater attention to cultural aspects in practice. The portfolio revealed challenges in treatment, with the deterioration of public policies and failures in communication to overcome the language barrier.

Conclusion

There is a real requirement for the development of training strategies for health care professionals who will work in the health system, involving a need to adapt course curricula in the health area, and contributing to the integration, interdisciplinarity and assistance with an intercultural dialogue, as advocated in the National Curriculum Guidelines of 2014.

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