Psychiatric Education

Over the last few years more and more and more emphasis is being given on the mental health tart services and efforts arc being made to improve these. However, education regarding mental health has been in the background. For better mental health services it is imperative that psychiatric education should also receive its due attention. Various aspects of psychiatric education need to be understood. These are regarding psychiatric education at undergraduate level, at postgraduate level, and to other professionals who deal with mental health care. Undergraduate psychiatric education has been ignored and virtually docs not exist in certain medical colleges. Actually it has to be brought to the direct attention of administrators that psychiatric education for undergraduates would be beneficial in the long run. In many medical colleges the subject of psychiatry is covered very superficially. There are just a few lectures held during one of the semesters. Some medical colleges have both lecture classes as well as short clinical postings for medical undergraduates lasting from few days to few weeks. However in a few medical colleges there arc neither lecture classes nor clinical postings for these students. It is important to note that the role of clinical postings for undergraduates is firstly not clear and secondly it is nottaken seriously, especially by the medical students. Some medical colleges have no facilities tor imparting clinical teaching or services. Perhaps before improving perception and knowledge of psychiatry in general public it is important to do so tor the medical community. The state of psychiatric education for postgraduate students is also in a similar condition. There arc no uniform guidelines to be followed. The duration of postgraduate courses-degree or diploma is very variable. Some postgraduate courses are tor one year, two years or 3 vcars. Similarly the post-diploma Ml) courses also vary from one to three years. During the postgraduate training the duration of postings to various specialities also does not follow any uniform policy. There is no uniformity of inclusion of various clinical postings also. For example at some places postgraduates are posted tor a few months to the general medii inc department. In some other centres this is not done. Some centres have taiihtics foi training m child psychiatric services, family psvchiatry, de-addiction, liaison psychiatry etc., whereas some other centres do not have these. Regarding compulsory research work for postgraduates again there is a marked difference. At some places postgraduates …