2.  Nowadays, we are aware of the importance that scientific investigation has in medicine.  We consider that it is essential for newly- graduated physicians to feel comfortable when analysing new information and that is the reason why biostatistics has a fundamental role on medical education.

3.  We will rely our project in the article “Medicine Residents' Understanding of the Biostatistics and Results in the Medical Literature” published in JAMA this year, referring to a study made in the USA which evaluated medicine residents knowledge on biostatistics.

4.  Biostatistics has a fundamental role on medical education. Search for information ? Better understanding and perception of the data Spreading and captation of the innovative methods to use in the medicine We will develop a similar study to realise if medical students attending to 6 th grade on FMUP are familiar with biostatistical analysis and interpretation of results they get when making a medical literature search. IN BRIEF:

5. First of all it is necessary to DESIGN THE STUDY that is going to be developed

6. Knowledge and capacity on processing biostatistics data.  Students attending to 6 th grade on FMUP To Evaluate Opinion on this matter and its importance in their professional life To Enquire their

7.  We started by formulating the question that will guide us throughout the development of our study, which is “Do medical students attending to 6 th grade on FMUP have enough knowledge on biostatistics?”.  Forwardly, we review a number of articles on the subject in order to have a solid background to our project.

8. We will adapt a query made in the USA to evaluate medicine residents’ capacity to use biostatistics into a Portuguese context.

9.  Then, we will proceed to a survey of medical students attending to 6 th grade on FMUP, enquiring them about their opinion, knowledge and confidence on biostatistics.  Finally, we will analyse the information we collected and compose a statistics report which includes the results and conclusions of our research.

10.  The majority of newly-graduated physicians of USA, despite regarding it as a fundamental tool for their instruction, have a very low level of knowledge on biostatistics. (According to the article “Medicine Residents' Understanding of the Biostatistics and Results in the Medical Literature”; JAMA; 2007)

11.  In our study, we expect to achieve similar results, even though in Portugal we do not have access to all scientific technologies that Americans do.