[Acquisition of skills in medical ethics in learning-teaching small groups. Comparing problem-based learning with the traditional model].

Background: Aiming to evaluate the acquisition of skills on Medical Ethics among medical students from Marilia Medical School, some of them from the small group learning-teaching method, others from traditional teaching method.

Methods: A prospective analytical study was done based on the application of questionnaires about general themes on Ethics, at two different times.

Results: There weren't significant differences on the skills' acquisition between the two methods. Students from late graduation years showed a significantly better performance than those from early years. The themes that presented worse results were medical secret, legal responsible consent, patient autonomy, medical prescription, medical handbook and corporative feeling in the presence of medical mistake.

Conclusion: The most important difference between the groups was not the pedagogical pattern but the exposition time to the theme. PBL gives the chance to distribute the theme in different situations accelerating the acquisition of knowledge in Medical Ethics. It was realized that a revitalization on Medical Ethics teaching is necessary at our institution, aiming a better integration with the socio-economical situation in our country.