Associação Brasileira de Educação Médica

During the 34th Brazilian Congress of Medical Education in Salvador, Bahia, on October 18, the deans, directors, and coordinators of Brazilian medical schools met to discuss the revalidation of medical diplomas obtained at foreign medical schools.

After the meeting was called to order, the Executive Director of ABEM presented the results of the correspondence sent by ABEM to 80 (eighty) Brazilian medical schools (Memoranda 52/96 and 90/96 of March 14 and April 19, respectively). 70 (seventy) schools responded, or 87% of the total.

Of the 70 (seventy) Brazilian medical schools that sent information, 33 (thirty-three) are accredited by the Ministry of Education and were performing the revalidation of medical diplomas obtained at foreign medical schools, namely 48%.

Of the 33 (thirty-three) schools, 18 (eighteen) quoted Ruling 03/85 by the former CFE, now the National Council on Education (CNE) and reported on complimentary rules created by the institutions themselves. Another 15 (fifteen) did not quote the Ruling but reported their own rules. Of these 15 (fifteen), 5 (five) were in violation of Ruling 03/85 to the extent that they failed to comply with its provisions.

Of the schools that required revalidation applicants to submit to a test, two schools required a minimum grade of 7.0 and two others a minimum of 6.0 (out of 10.0). Sixteen did not quote minimum test grades.
Six schools only analyzed the equivalence of the respective curricula. One analyzed the equivalence of course loads and contents, accepting a minimum equivalence of 75%. The other five failed to specify the criteria.

At the request of ABEM, all the schools reported on the difficulties and facilitating factors in the process of revalidating foreign medical diplomas in Brazil.
Only 4 (four) schools mentioned Ruling 02/92, which rewords Article 3 of Ruling 03/85. Since the new wording refers to the evaluation performed by CAPES [the Brazilian national agency responsible for evaluating institutions of higher education] on graduate courses, it does not imply any controversies in this approach.

The great majority of schools expressed their desire for greater standardization in the revalidation, in Brazil, of medical diplomas issued by foreign medical schools, if possible avoiding significant discrepancies in criteria that result in regional migration of applicants.

The Health Sciences Division of Universidade Federal do Paraná reiterated its concern over information concerning the existence of a Regional Convention for the Validation of Studies, Titles, and Diplomas of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, purportedly allowing the automatic registration of diplomas by applicants from Colombia, Netherlands, Cuba, Panama, El Salvador, Santa Fé, Ecuador, Surinam, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The reply to this information was that no such provision has been included in the Convention as implemented.

After extensive input on the criteria and difficulties in implementing this process, a consensus was reached on steps to be followed by all the schools that revalidate medical diplomas, as provided by Ruling 03/85 of the National Health Council (CNS), as follows.

1st STEP:
a) Registration and submission of the required documents;
b) Examination of the documents’ authenticity;
c) Consultation with the medical school that issued the diploma, concerning the data pertaining to the applicant’s graduation;

2nd STEP:
Evaluation of curriculum content and course load equivalency (minimum of 75%);

4th STEP:
Written examination covering the following five major areas: Clinical Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics/Childcare, Gynecology/Obstetrics, and Social Medicine.

5th STEP:
Practical and oral examination for the evaluation of the applicant’s skills, attitudes, and communication.

Note: Each step is a prerequisite for the following step. The tests should be conducted annually and at the same time of the year for all medical schools in Brazil, namely in the latter half of November. The minimum grade is 7.0 out of 10.0, or 70% correct answers. The items that were not discussed, like the opportunity for clerkships and repeat evaluation of applicants that have failed on their first attempt, the form of practical and oral evaluation, and revalidation of diplomas in medical specialties were left to each school’s discretion.