Thinking of university extension as a health education field: An experience at the fluminense federal university, Brazil

Abstract

This paper presents a reflection on extension practices within healthcare through a university extension program developed at the Fluminense Federal University, Brazil. From the words of and observations on teachers, students, health professionals and caregivers, the concepts of extension and training were analyzed. The study was based on comparing these practices during the educational process, with reference, academically, to the guidelines for the university extension program (FORPROEX) along three lines: comprehensive healthcare; the educational process as a dialogical relationship; and the training process as a relationship between theory and practice. The study revealed that there was potential for extension of healthcare training, i.e. for producing comprehensive care, provided that there is academic linkage and that attendance is inseparable from teaching-research-extension. Extension is a space for experiences and for comparing theory with practice within dialogical, multidisciplinary and socially committed dynamics.