Volume 11 Issues 2 February, 2021
Well, what does it feel being a teacher in the field of Psychiatry? How did the journey of being a teacher in Psychiatry start?
Once a month an hour for psychiatry, 5 batches at once for one faculty, turning up to empty lecture halls, later, the struggle to find contact numbers of class representatives and arrange students to come for classes, 15-20 students turning up despite being told, the very next month, mass bunk due to internals. 4 out of 5 batches posted for clinical postings would never report, the one batch reporting used to have less than 50 % attendance and maximum of 5-6 days of attending. The excuse was inevitably of internal assessments and lack of study time. Academic cell, least concerned about taking classes, attendance completely ignored, anyhow, no internal marks needed to be sent to university as “Psychiatry does not have any relation with UG training whatsoever”. The only valid signature was on the internship completion certificate and that is when UGs used to know there exists a department called Psychiatry.
This scenario is what welcomed me after I returned enthusiastically finishing post-graduation from a premier institute which has high academic culture. As a beginner, these above things always intrigued me of why people weren’t concerned about mental health and training. Is it lack of having exams and no mandatory attendance? Is the subject too difficult? Is it the stigma that no one even considered psychiatry as a career? Does it lack lustre of a fancy super speciality or even other broad specialities? Lack of money in the field?
As the years passed, though meagre, but focussed interactions with interested students and faculties of other colleges occurred. The one thing that gradually became clear is that the above questions are not the primary hurdles for people not turning up. It is, in fact the lack of engagement from our side. Second, the attitude of ‘just leave it the way it is, why do you want it to improve?’ kind by management. Lack of pull by positive reinforcement and lack of push by negative reinforcement results in static motivation. How to improve the participation was the next question. The answer is to keep interacting with students in whatsoever opportunity that arises. It may be in various non-teaching events like IPS KC quiz, prize exam, ICMR STS fellowships, voluntary research projects. Start doing various programmes, camps, kindling the speakers, writers, artists and performers to showcase their talents in the field of mental health. The upcoming CBME syllabus has provided 40 hours of teaching and 45 days of clinical postings, which is a considerable 100% increase despite which not even one certifiable competency is needed for graduation. The subject is not even considered for exams in the UG period. Though this may maintain the status quo, the opportunities for interaction with students are ample. This can be utilized in non-didactic ways of teaching like case-based learning, small group discussions, bedside teaching, roleplays and psychodramas. These type of teaching methods need proper training of teachers of psychiatry and standardization. The need of the hour is to engage teachers in learning teaching methodologies. Steps towards the standardization and faculty development are being taken up by IPS KC task force for UG and PG training.
The journey ahead is still long and open for more such opportunities, to see psychiatry training for UGs to improve. The outcome would be a confident young medical graduate who would be able to identify and take appropriate course of action for mentally ill persons with the right kind of attitude and perhaps, take up psychiatry as a career.
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