Open AccessAcademic research challenges in Brasil and its impairment by COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Eduardo Alexandre Rancan,
Eloísa Ianes Frota,
Tábata Marióbrega de Freitas,
Agnaldo Bruno Chies,
Orlando de Castro e Silva Júnior
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medicina
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2176-7262
pISSN - 0076-6046
DOI - 10.11606/issn.2176-7262.rmrp.2021.181236
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , pandemic , political science , denial , public relations , politics , medical education , psychology , economic growth , covid-19 , medicine , engineering , law , economics , disease , mechanical engineering , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , psychoanalysis
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its control measures, which have not been experienced in the world in the last hundred years, have impacted academic scientific production, which, in Brazil, was already in the process of progressive erosion of its foundations. Thus, scientific initiation during medical graduation, which depends on funding and institutional structure, and extremely beneficial to the graduation process, was jeopardized due to restrictive measures.Objective: This article aims to expose the point of view of undergraduate medical students enrolled in a scientific initiation program about the panorama of Brazilian academic scientific production and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in its multiple aspects.Discussion: The lack of an effective scientific initiation is one of the many factors that lead to a decline in the number of medical researchers. The way that scientific initiation is placed, as part of a parallel curriculum, and a whole scrapped public production structure are impairing, chronic and noteworthy features. The apparatus of national scientific production is mostly structured in Higher Education Institutions and research institutions, both public. Within the scope of graduation, it can be didactically subdivided into four pillars: financial support, structure, student proactivity and the advisor's aptitude. The COVID-19 pandemic has been an additional blow to this weakened and fragile structure. Scientific initiation was thus negatively impacted. Public opinion and political aspects further influence an imbroglio of “scientific denial” and a craving for effective information and solutions to the unprecedented problem of a pandemic of this proportion.Conclusion: It is clear that national scientific production is placed in a survival situation in the face of new challenges posed by the pandemic. Likewise, scientific initiation is less and less stimulating during graduation, even though it is an experience of great value in medical and personal development.