Academic Activities & Training
The Department currently trains 36 Postgraduates selected from among more than 2000 candidates who apply each year. The department also offers Post-Doctoral Fellowships in specialized areas of psychiatry and also a PhD program. In addition, the Department offers training to post-graduates in allied mental health disciplines (Clinical Psychology, Psychiatric Social Work, Psychiatric Nursing) and Neurology within NIMHANS, post-graduates in psychiatry from other parts of the country. Post-graduates from Medicine, Paediatrics from various medical colleges are also posted to the Department for psychiatric training.
Core post-graduate academic activities / training of the Department include the following:
•Seminars (weekly), Journal club (weekly), case conferences (fortnightly) at the department level
•Seminars (weekly), topic discussions(weekly) and case conferences (weekly) in all the clinical units
•Course in basic neurosciences and psychology (a series of lectures by the faculty in first year of training) followed by an end of the year assessment with prizes for top performing students
•Modules in phenomenology, clinical psychopharmacology, geriatrics, emergency medicine and forensic psychiatry and research methods (first year) along with an introductory module (foundation module) at the beginning of the course
•Psychotherapy module (second year)
•Thesis protocol presentations to the whole department
•Psychotherapy supervision (for the duration of the course)
•Thesis poster presentations to the department (prior to thesis submission)
Internal assessments
•End of the clinical posting assessment, feedback based on clinical knowledge and skill in general and specific areas of unit’s interest in training, theoretical knowledge and professionalism (work ethic, responsibility, reliability, sincerity and accountability)
•360 degree feedback at the end of each posting and after each assessment. Remediation and one to one mentoring offered to those who underperform.
•Internal assessments in psychopathology/phenomenology, clinical psychopharmacology and emergency psychiatry (first year)
•Written exams on Research methods at the end of 2nd year (Exam on Research methodology, Ethical conduct of research and Critical appraisal and interpretation of research)
•Psychotherapy case submissions and viva (final year)
•SERWICE submission of cases followed up in rehabilitation
•Thesis submission (for MD ) and presentation of results in a poster session
•Psychometry Submissions
Academic Oscars
Students who give their best performance in training activities (seminars, journal article presentation, psychotherapy) are given annual awards in recognition of their excellence. In addition, best outgoing resident award is given each year to one student from the outgoing MD batch based on the overall performance during the period of training.
Teaching programmes for other Departments at NIMHANS:
The faculty provide training inputs to the Departments of Clinical Psychology, Psychiatric Social Work, Psychiatric Nursing, Clinical Neurosciences and Neurology. Teaching inputs are also provided to the Centre for Public Health. Faculty are also involved in the course work of PhD students of the Institute.