Academics / Courses Conducted
The Department of Nursing conducts five regular courses. Faculty and Nursing tutors teach the students in the Post basic diploma in Psychiatric/Mental health Nursing and the Post basic diploma in Neuroscience nursing. The Faculty are involved in teaching the M.Sc. Psychiatric Nursing and Ph.D. Nursing students, as well as Post-Certificate Diploma in Community Mental Health Nursing (3 months). Faculty from various departments such as Biostatistics, Clinical Psychology, Neuro anaesthesia, Neuro-surgery, Neurology, Neuro-microbiology, Neuro-radiology, Neuro physiology, Neuro-virology, Psychiatry, Psychiatric Social Work, Speech pathology, etc. are also involved in teaching . Students have clinical experience in the morning hours and classes in the afternoons as well as 8-9 AM. Different types of teaching methods viz. concept mapping, problem based learning, panel discussion, micro-teaching, problem solving, role play, etc. are used in the department. Evaluation is done both formative and summative. Students are encouraged to grow holistically (i.e. cultural activities, finer arts, sports, etc.) and not only in academics. Student counseling is done by the program co-ordinators who are the faculty. Student feedback is taken routinely keeping in mind quality assurance. Academic workshops are also conducted. In a year, approximately 1250 External trainees from various parts of India as well as countries abroad such as Finland and UK get clinical experience.
Faculty and Tutors are involved in developing IGNOU PC B.Sc. Nursing and INC Courses like Diploma and Undergraduate and Post graduate Program in Nursing
The Department provides consultation services to SAARC countries in the area of education, and Psychiatric and Neuro Nursing services. As part of this, the Faculty developed curriculum for M.Sc. Nursing courses for BP Koirala Institute, Nepal
Faculty members hold membership in several professional associations, including the NAAC Assessment Committee, UGC, INC, and serve on various academic and examination boards. Faculty are on the list of Inspectors for Indian Nursing Council and participate in INC Inspections, UGC inspection and UPSC selection of teaching faculty in Nursing.
The Faculty is regularly involved in delivering Guest Lectures, keynote addresses, and scientific presentations at various regional, national and international workshops and conferences.
Nodal Center for National Consortium – Ph.D Nursing (INC, WHO, and RGUHS, Bangalore):
From 2006-2013 the Dept of Nursing at NIMHANS was the Nodal Center for National Consortium for Ph.D. with teleconferencing facility, linked with CMC Vellore, New Delhi, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, and Ludhiana. Sr Prof. Dr K. Reddemma has been functioning as the National Nodal Officer for the Consortium.
Regular courses:
- Post basic diploma in Psychiatric/Mental health Nursing: This course commenced in 1956 with the help of WHO Consultants (the first of its kind for India). There are 45 seats. This is a one year course comprising of clinical experience, field visits, one research project and theory classes. Candidates should be registered nurse (RN & RM) in the state nursing council with one year experience as staff nurse. There is no entrance test for this course. The course starts in July and ends in June. Nurses applying for this course from other countries need to obtain an equivalence certificate from INC before applying. Candidates admitted to Diploma in Psychiatric Nursing Course who are not getting any financial assistance from other sources will be paid Rs. 2000/- per month.
- Post basic diploma in Neuroscience Nursing: This course commenced in 1982 (the first Diploma Program for India in Neuro specialty). There are 9 seats. This is a one year course comprising of clinical experience in the neurological and neurosurgical wards as well as OT, field visits, one research project and theory classes. Candidates should be registered nurse (RN & RM) in the state nursing council with one year experience as staff nurse. There is no entrance test for this course. The course starts in July and ends in June. Nurses applying for this course from other countries need to obtain an equivalence certificate from INC before applying. Candidates admitted to Diploma in Neurological and Neurosurgical Nursing Course who are not getting any financial assistance from other sources of will be paid Rs.2000/- per month.
- Post-Certificate Diploma in Community Mental Health Nursing (3 months): This course was commenced in July 2018. Candidates receive intensive hands on training in Community Mental Health Nursing under this programme.
- M.Sc. in Psychiatric Nursing: This course commenced in 1988. There are 9 seats. This is a two years course comprising of clinical experience with adult psychiatry units in the first year and speciality psychiatry units in the second year, community mental health, research in any chosen area in the second year with thesis submission as partial fulfilment of course requirements. Candidates should be registered nurse (RN & RM) or equivalent with any state nursing registration council with one year work experience either following basic B.Sc. Nursing or prior to or after post Basic B.Sc. Nursing as on the day of counseling. The minimum education requirements shall be the passing of B.Sc. Nursing/B.Sc. Hons. Nursing/Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing with minimum of 55% aggregate marks in an institution recognized by the INC. The candidate should be medically fit. The students who are not getting any financial assistance from other sources are give Rs.3,000/- p.m.
- Ph.D. Nursing: This course commenced in 2002. The duration is 3-5 years. To get selected candidates should have either Fellowship or sponsorship. During the first year, the candidate will be given training in the theoretical and practical aspects of the problem selected for the study and the research methodology related to the proposed topic. The candidate will appear for Pre-Ph.D. examination after the completion of course work which comprises of classes by the Head of all departments. and one year from the date of provisional registration. The candidate will have two years of supervised clinical work in nursing with special emphasis on areas related to the topic of research. After the completion of the proposed research work, the candidate will submit the thesis for the award of Ph.D. Four candidates have successfully completed the course up to now.
External trainees:
- External trainees enrolled in Diploma in psychiatric nursing, GNM, B.Sc. nursing, P.C.B.Sc. Nursing and M.Sc. nursing come to the department for clinical experience from all parts of India as well as from other countries. Trainees are from several states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in south India, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, U.P., M.P., Chattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Oddisha, Uttarakhand in north India as well as union territories of Delhi and Puducherry.
The following initiatives are undertaken by the Department of Nursing in manpower development:
Nurses Training under the District Mental Health Program (DMHP): The Karnataka DMHP nurses were trained as per the request of the Deputy Director- Mental Health, Govt. of Karnataka- July-2017. A manual/ Resource book was prepared and released with funding from the Ministry of Health, Govt. of Karnataka.
Tele-Psychiatric Nursing: Nurses are provided continued training through tele-nursing with active monthly didactics and case discussions.
NIMHANS Digital Academy (NDA) – Nursing: Inaugurated by the Hon’ble Director, NIMHANS, on 08/08/2018. Under NDA, the Diploma in Community Mental Health – Nurses is being conducted. So far, forty candidates have been trained and certified, with the second and third batches commencing in December 2018.
WHO-Training of Trainers(TOT)in Mental Health Nursing – A joint venture of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, WHO-India, and Department of Nursing, NIMHANS. A three-day TOT program was conducted in September 2018. Two manuals – the Facilitator’s Manual and the Trainee Manual – were developed in this regard.
