Since 1959-60 essentially, the Museum of History of Medicine had the required conditions for developing under and postgraduate education. More than calling the attention of the student to the Medical Museology we try to give him the basic indispensable knowledge to the identification, characterization and cataloguing of the medical object. Its history enhances a sequence of medical, historical, scientific and technological knowledge. It also assumes an historical framing and a evolutionary analysis. The Museum educates the student of Medicine and Dental Medicine who, recognized, watches for its maintenance and continuity. So, he participates in the researches and ongoing tasks in the Museum, in the organization and guidance of the exhibitions and in the execution of practical works that increase the content of the specialized library of the Museum.

As to the undergraduate education, we were concerned in responding to the requests of several Portuguese High Schools by making guided visits to the Museum or by presenting subjects of their interest. Efforts were made in order to maintain and stimulate an up-to-date idea expressed and tested by the Northern Section of the Portuguese Association of Museology in 1987, concerning the pedagogic action of the Museums of the Northern region. In the book of entries of the Museum there were a number of opinions supporting the importance of the medical studies dissemination.

Postgraduate teaching addressed the presentation of subjects of medical historical nature in National and International Congresses of various Medical and Surgical Specialties, the organization of historical exhibitions occurring by the time of the academic festivities or scientific meetings, and the bibliographic direction of works and presentations requested by teachers, specialty residents and specialists. According to this framework there was a permanent concern in calling the attention of the several practitioners to the importance of the medical patrimony and the consequent need of its identification and maintenance. This acknowledgement combined with the awareness of the work developed by the Museum Maximiano Lemos History of Medicine in the collection, detailed cataloguing and preservation of each object of the Museum and its dissemination were decisive factors to an increasing maintenance of the medical patrimony and an exponential advent of medical and surgical apparatus to this Institution. The identification of the object is not enough. It is essential to characterize it, according to its history, function, shape and material it is made of, maker's mark, dimensions, date or period of manufacturing and the mention of the donor, among other information. Some of this information is vital to the knowledge of the origin and evolution of the medical and surgical instrument in an international context. The restoration of textiles, paintings and documents of the Museum represents a priority undergone due to the work of specialized staff, with the sponsorship of the Direction of the Faculty of Medicine of Porto.