This study adopted the perspective of services users to evaluate participation by undergraduate students in primary care. A qualitative and quantitative exploratory and descriptive study was conducted in a primary care unit in Fortaleza, Ceará State, in 2009 and 2010. Users of the primary care unit were interviewed with a structured questionnaire containing closed and open-ended questions. Answers to the discursive questions were investigated with the content analysis technique and tabulated according to their frequency. Seventy-eight users were approached, of whom 51 (65.4%) were aware of the presence of students in the primary care unit (in patient care, educational activities, or home visits), and these 51 were thus interviewed. Of these, 96.1% felt it was important for the primary care unit to act as a training facility; 98.0% reported that students' participation contributed to the improvement of healthcare; 98.0% considered this an important activity for the students' professional training; 49.0% of the interviewees had been treated or accompanied by students, among whom 96.0% stated that they felt comfortable with the students' presence and work. From the users' perspective, students' participation made a positive contribution to the primary care unit.
health evaluation; students; primary health care
