Medical education must be anchored in the National Curriculum Guidelines for the
Undergraduate Medical Education in order to establish the principles of the Brazilian Unified
Healthcare System (SUS) in effect in the country. Within such structure of healthcare system,
its professionals need to hold a broad and integrative view of the health-disease process. The
concepts developed during medical training are essential since they will guide the practical
skills required within SUS. This study examined the views of a group of students from a state
medical school in Belém, the capital city of Pará, northern Brazil, on the health-disease
process. Bardin’s content analysis method was employed to analyze data. Fifteen
undergraduate students enrolled in the eleventh period of a program conceived in accordance
with the 1999 pedagogical project participated in the research. A questionnaire with openended
questions on the research theme was used to collect data. The analysis comprises the
following steps: free-floating reading of the participants’ answers; identifying the units of
analysis; coding the categories of analysis; and interpreting the content of the data units. The
participants displayed the following points of view: regarding the conception of the healthdisease
process, they consider that it goes beyond the physical aspects to include the patients’
biopsychosocial well-being; regarding their education, they stressed the need for the faculty to
approach the health-disease process aimed at helping the students build a more holistic
perception of patients. They also mentioned that their professors had revealed an emphasis on
the disease itself. The participants indicated the need for curriculum renewal. They argued
that the practices to be prescribed by the curriculum be previously discussed with them so that
both the faculty members and the student body become acquainted with the program
guidelines, its objectives, proposals and goals. Still according to them, it would make it
possible for them to integrate themselves in the context of the new pedagogical proposals as
more active, participatory and critical-reflective social actors able to intervene in the social
contexts and promote the changes that might be demanded. It is expected that the already
started curriculum renewal allow for the necessary changes of paradigms identified in this
study.