FAMMUCidade: communication on health using a virtual environment

Abstract

In contemporary society, communication and access to information have been greatly facilitated by the internet. With the widespread use of technology, new ways of producing, disseminating, and accessing knowledge have emerged in a highly efficient way and with a wide power of reach. This paper reports the experience of the FAMMUCidade: Medicina para a Comunidade (Medicine for the Community) extension project of the Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM, Mucuri campus), whose purpose was the dissemination of informative content about teaching, research, and extension activities carried out at the Faculdade de Medicina do Mucuri (Fammuc), using the YouTube digital platform, while also publicizing the medical course. The YouTube channel acted as a tool to expand the possibility of getting to know Fammuc and the activities carried out at this Faculty. For implementation of the project, it was necessary to register the channel on YouTube, and a sequence of steps were established for production of the video: training of the students, elaboration of a schedule with the themes to be addressed, development of the filming script, review of the script by the coordinators, and the process of recording and editing for later dissemination on the digital platform. The channel received 346 subscribers, in addition to achieving more than 11,000 views and 87,244 impressions with the 14 videos posted in the two-year period since its creation in 2018. This information was collected by means of YouTube Studio. The results demonstrated that the objective of the action was achieved, namely to awaken a feeling of co-responsibility in the community regarding health actions, as well as contributing to integration of the local society and the academic community, stimulating the population to perceive the importance of the university as a promoter of social transformation in the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys. Finally, the FAMMUCidade: Medicina para a Comunidade channel has become a contemporary tool for communicating with the community, disseminating academic content resulting from the activities of Fammuc in the form of an extension project. The work contributes to the goal of ensuring cohesion among university teaching, research, and extension.