Context: Vascular surgery (VS) is the area of medicine dedicated to the study of the vascular system and is an integral part of the content to be learned by general practitioners. It is therefore necessary to establish which VS competencies are essential for medical practice in Brazil.

Objectives: To define which VS topics are most relevant for general practitioners’ medical training and develop a core curriculum (CC) for undergraduate medical courses in Brazil, then survey the proposed curriculum in a pilot study with first-year doctors in residencies in internal medicine, gynecology and obstetrics, general surgery, and family and community medicine.

Methods: Ten professors constructed and validated a medical degree CC content proposal using the Delphi consensus method. The proposal was then administered to residents to evaluate it in relation to the undergraduate experience of 35 graduates.

Results: The instrument developed and validated in terms of content by the panel of teachers identified 17 of the 31 themes presented as essential, which were defined as the VS CC (anatomy, physiology, venous thromboembolism, diabetic foot, and atherosclerosis). Peripheral arterial disease and extracranial cerebral ischemia were considered to be covered little or not at all during undergraduate medical training. 

Conclusion: In the professors’ opinions, the process to construct and validate a VS core curriculum achieved consensus and supported the development of a concise and applicable research instrument. Surveying the residents’ experience in these topics enabled an understanding of which areas of teaching could be improved for VS-related primary medical care.

TBA..