The project "Vivendo o SUS" (Experiencing the Single Health System ), including participation by first-year medical students at the Catholic University in São Paulo, aimed to introduce undergraduates to activities in the public health system and its relationship to the local population in the city of Sorocaba. Following a curricular reform in the medical school, a Healthcare Practice Module was developed for the full six years of undergraduate medical training. The project has been important for stimulating and orienting the curricular change, implementing an activity than encourages students to reflect on their experience. It fosters the perception of situations like patient care and organization of the work flow in primary care, teamwork in health, and information as a planning tool. Medical education, now part of the Primary Care context, contributes to the production of knowledge for improving the local health system while impacting reality and training health professionals that are better prepared and committed to the community.