Entre cuidar e ser cuidada: uma narrativa reflexiva sobre experiência de adoecimento na formação médica

Abstract

This study presents a reflective narrative on the author's personal experience with illness, medical treatment, and hospitalizations, which occurred concurrently with her seven years of undergraduate medical education at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). The author's experiences as a patient were varied, encompassing a diagnosis of epilepsy, recurrent tonsillitis, migraine attacks, and two hospital admissions — one resulting from sepsis and the other due to an anticonvulsivant medication toxicity presenting with encephalopathy. Through autobiographical accounts, this work reflects on the overlap between these health events and academic life, including participation in research projects, community outreach, and the cultivation of friendships, as well as the need for a medical leave of absence in 2024 due to her health condition. Furthermore, it highlights how the experience of being cared for reshaped the process of learning to provide care during medical training, fostering humanistic competence in medical practice and integrating technical knowledge with empathy, active listening, and critical reflection on practice. The study concludes that experiencing the vulnerability of being a patient provides a medical student with a deeper dimension of understanding, essential for cultivating a solid physician-patient relationship throughout their training.