Territorial Health Care Network Project

comprehensive and multiprofessional care as a learning practice

Abstract

In the education of health professionals, in addition to theory, knowledge about the Unified Health System (SUS) is essential, as this system provides significant practical experience of interdisciplinarity and interprofessionality in the integral care of individuals to health professionals. This experience report describes, from the viewpoint of dentistry students, the main actions included in the health care of a community in the Territorial Care Network Project, conducted by the University of Passo Fundo, Brazil; these actions included home visits, which focused on primary health care, and the active search for urgent demands of users. The experience report presents the learning and reflections generated during team meetings held to discuss multidisciplinary home visits, which occurred weekly, these provided the students with the information collected after monitoring the families in the target community; they also enabled the student to witness the creation of bonds among health care professionals and community members; thus, the students learned the significance of primary care and comprehensive care. The actions of the project contributed to the academic training of students from various courses in the health field of a Higher Education Institution (HEI), facilitating their practice in the territory, that is, in this case, the community, without simulation. Thus, the academic group was encouraged to learn the role of SUS in a community, by practically implementing its guidelines and principles, and the reality of the system, including its strengths and weaknesses. From this experience, we identify that actions aimed at the most vulnerable communities in their territories are challenging, especially in relation to decision-making in comprehensive health care of individuals.