Introducing the Mafaldas; a group of Brazilian medical students
Posted on 22nd November 2016 by The Mafaldas
Who are the Mafaldas?
We are a group of medical students from the Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil¹. We understand evidence-based medicine as a scientific, political and ethical movement of paradigm change within medicine, allied to the precepts of Person-centered Medicine and Quaternary Prevention (which endeavours to identify patients at risk of over-medicalization and to protect them from unnecessary medical invasion).
In order to raise awareness and understanding of such issues among students at our university – as well as among patients and the non-university community more widely – we have carried out some discussions on Facebook² and via email groups. Our aim is to go further in the not so distant future, through face-to-face meetings and publishing educational material for non-medical and medical personnel.
Mafalda is a famous Argentinean cartoon character and we have chosen Mafalda’s name for our group due to her questioning attitude³ which embodies the spirit of enlightened-skepticism and a critical stance when presented with evidence. In Mafalda’s name, we endeavour to continuously seek the best available knowledge, and intertwine it with clinical reasoning and patients’ personal and cultural preferences. We believe that enlightened-skepticism is a powerful tool against misconceptions, taken for granted concepts, and market influence in medical education and practice.
To find out more about us, please visit our Facebook page.
- http://www.ufv.br/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/osmafaldas/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda
