Introduction:

One of the greatest expectations of the medical student is having contact with the patient. This contact traditionally materializes in the discipline of medical semiology. This article intends to identify the experiences, opinions and adverse situations faced by fourth-semester students in order to propose coping strategies for these dilemmas within undergraduate training.

Methodology:

A descriptive, qualitative study, with a sample of 87 fourth-semester students from the undergraduate medical course at UFPB, who composed 12 focus groups. The discussions were transcribed for further analysis. The material produced was submitted for simple Descending Hierarchical Classification (DHC) with the aid of Iramuteq software version 0.6.

Results:

DHC split the corpus into five classes: Patient; Student; Methodology; Recognition; and Physical Examination. The students reported the following as barriers in their initial experiences: choice of patients for the first anamneses; believing that they were not helping the patient; fear of disturbing the patient; difficulty in distinguishing between what is normal and what is pathological; problems in the teaching methodology; the challenge of dealing with the emotional; and physical contact with the patient and technical difficulties in the physical examination.

Discussion:

Feeling incompetent and incapable of helping to treat the patient causes anxiety, anguish, frustration, insecurity, doubt and fear in the student, making it difficult to cope in their initial contact with patients. Such conditions undermine both the learning and mental health of the student and, depending on how they are dealt with, may interfere in their medical training and practice.

Final considerations:

Upon first contact with the patient the student needs skills that he or she does not feel capable of performing. Thus, several feelings are experienced that limit the learning process, which is progressive, but happens in a real life scenario, where demands are presented in a comprehensive manner. For this reason, platforms for discussion are fundamental for student doctors to have a support network to resolve the stress of contact with the patient and the challenges of dealing with their illnesses. Greater integration between teachers and students is necessary for the best use of classes in practical settings, as well as respect for the student's own limitations, so that they are not deemed as inadequate.

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