Background
The shortage in Latin-American Primary Care (PC) workforce may be due to negative perceptions
about it. These perceptions might be probably influenced by particular features of
health systems and academic environments, thus varying between countries.
Methods
Observational, analytic and cross-sectional multicountry study that evaluated 9,561 first
and fifth-year medical students from 63 medical schools of 11 Latin American countries
through a survey. Perceptions on PC work was evaluated through a previously validated
scale. Tertiles of the scores were created in order to compare the different countries. Crude
and adjusted prevalence ratios were calculated using simple and multiple Poisson regression
with robust variance.
Results
Approximately 53% of subjects were female; mean age was 20.4±2.9 years; 35.5%were
fifth-year students. Statistically significant differences were found between the study subjects’
country, using Peru as reference. Students from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay perceived PC work more positively, while those from Ecuador showed a less
favorable position. No differences were found among perceptions of Bolivian, Salvadoran,
Honduran and Venezuelan students when compared to their Peruvian peers.
Conclusions
Perceptions of PC among medical students from Latin America vary according to country.
Considering such differences can be of major importance for potential local specific
interventions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PERUUPC/oai:repositorioacademico.upc.edu.pe:10757/617247 |
| Date | 14 July 2016 |
| Creators | Pereyra Elías, Reneé, Mayta-Tristan, Percy, Montenegro Idrogo, Juan José, Mejia, Christian R., Abudinén A., Gabriel, Azucas Peralta, Rita, Barrezueta Fernandez, Jorge, Cerna Urrutia, Luis, DaSilva DeAbreu, Adrián, Mondragón Cardona, Alvaro, Moya, Geovanna, Valverde Solano, Christian D., Theodorus Villar, Rhanniel, Vizárraga León, Maribel |
| Contributors | p.mayta@gmail.com |
| Publisher | PLoS ONE |
| Source Sets | Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Source | Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), Repositorio Académico - UPC |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159147 |
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