La preparación del estudiante de Medicina para la eliminación de la tuberculosis

introduction: the preparation of the basic general physician is fundamental to the control of tuberculosis at the community. objective: to identify some general theoretical knowledge on tuberculosis in the medical future. methods: an anonymous survey was made to fifty eight 6th year students, in order to evaluate knowledge on tuberculosis and its relationship with received teaching activities, experience in treating patients and/or community-wide active screening. in the 25-item test with score of 100 points, the less-than-60 p scores were considered fail; 60 to 76 were pass; and 80 or over points were good. results: there was found 31 % of unsatisfactory results with difficulties in general knowledge, diagnosis and anti-tuberculosis treatment. all the students pointed out to have received theoretical knowledge, mainly in internal medicine, comprehensive general medicine and pediatrics. of the students, 82.8 % had previous experience with patients and with carrying out of screening, but unrelated to the survey results. conclusions: the preparation of the surveyed participants for the role that they must play in controlling tuberculosis is poor.