Ability to "Describe" for the learning of congenital malformations

Abstract

Introduction: The syllabus for the Embryology discipline, which is taught in the Republic of Angola as part of the curriculum of the Medical Education was drawn up and developed in Cuba.  The environment in which the teaching process developed and the characteristics of the health care system are not the same for which it was conceived.  It is not only important to develop students´ skills for the promotion and prevention of defects that are present in the objectives of the discipline, but also identification skills and morphological description of congenital defects for an adequate drawing up of the clinical history in the clinical disciplines.
Objective: To determine the level of development reached by the students when they apply the skill of "describing" using an algorithm for the learning of congenital malformations.
Material and Method: An algorithm based on the embryological method was developed; and the initial questions asked in the seminars given to Second Year Medical Students were used in the Medical School of the University of Cabinda in the Republic of Angola during the 2012 Academic Year.
Conclusions: The actions developed for the ability to "Describe" in the study of congenital malformations allowed the student to get a theoretical morphological knowledge of the characteristics of the defects; on the extent to which the student applied the actions of the algorithm, he acquired a higher level of skill development.

Keywords: intellectual skills, Medical Embryology, Higher Medical Education, teaching of Basic Biomedical Sciences, description process.