Introduction:

Medical preceptorship is an activity found in all medical courses in Brazil and in most courses worldwide. Changes in Brazilian medical education have led to the inclusion of first and second-year students in professional practice, mainly in primary care, highlighting the importance of preceptorship. In the medical course at UFSCar, from the first year onwards students are placed in Family Health Practices under the supervision of professors and doctors working in those units.

Objective:

To understand physicians’ perceptions regarding the activity of preceptorship in the first cycle of the undergraduate medical course.

Methodology:

Exploratory study of a phenomenological nature with a qualitative approach. The study subjects were the preceptors of the first year medical students at UFSCar over the last five years. Individual interviews were conducted using semi-structured questions for data collection, and analyzed using the thematic categorial content analysis approach.

Results:

The preceptors supervise clinical appointments, home visits, community actions, collaborative interprofessional activities and case discussions; participate in reflections on practice, analysis and discussion of student products and evaluation, enabling the construction of individualized teaching strategies. The impacts of preceptorship were positively perceived, especially in the care of vulnerable individuals, by bringing the subjects closer to the team and creating comprehensive care plans. Preceptorship is seen as a stimulus for updating, training and reflection on the practice itself. As example of challenges, physicians reported difficulties with the health care team, work backlogs, lack of time and fragility in the relationship between university and health network.

Conclusions:

Preceptors are essential for the realization of professional practice, and they have a positively view of their relationship with students in the exercise of preceptorship, as well as its impact on care. In view of the challenges identified, it is essential for preceptors to be included in a qualification program for preceptorship and continuing education in service. The teaching-service partnership must be strengthened in order to enable the exercise of preceptorship with positive impacts for the team, students, people, families and communities.

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