The Post Graduate course in M.D (Community Medicine)

Fortnightly Journal Club meetings are conducted in which the Post Graduate Students in Department of Community Medicine present selected articles on the subject of interest. The articles are critically reviewed and discussed in a way to understand the current trends in the fields of various aspects of Community Health Care and Research. Seminars are conducted twice weekly for the Postgraduate students. Topics in Community Medicine, Public Health are presented and discussed in detail. Weekly clinico-social case discussions and editorial reviews are also done.

They are given Community Oriented training in different public health institutions and also given training in clinical medicine. They are given hands on training in planning and carrying out population based epidemiological studies.

Basic courses offered for Post Graduates:

Post graduates from other disciplines viz. Medicine, Paediatrics, OBG

They are posted periodically to this Department. They are attached to Primary Health Centres / Urban Health Centres for their community oriented training. They are exposed to the real life situation in the practice of Social Obstetrics, Social Paediatrics and Social Medicine.

MBBS Course:

M.B.B.S students’ training in Community Medicine starts from 1 st semester and continues till 7 th semester. After a gap of one year, on successful completion of 9 th semester they come back to the Community Medicine department for 3 months as CRRIs. Medical students teaching and training includes Lectures, Small Group Discussions, Seminars, Clinico-social Case Discussions, Problem solving exercises, Field Visits and Laboratory work.

Community oriented training is given to MBBS students as follows.

• They are taken to field practice areas and are exposed to local health problems. The methodology of carrying out surveys is explained. The types of instruction include both observational and participatory.
• Clinico – social case studies are conducted on cases from OPD as well as from wards.
• Binocular Microscopy.
• The students are exposed to various important institutions / organizations of Public Health importance.
• At the end of the above programme, the students present the observations on their visits / Clinico-Social cases and these are discussed objectively. All the staff members take part in the discussions.
• Short assessment test is conducted on the penultimate day of each postings and adequate feedback is given to the students.
• Family Adoption Program: all students from I MBBS to Final year part 1 take part in this program and each student adopts a minimum of 3 families which he or she will follow-up till the end of Final year part 1. Students are trained for better communication, attitudes, empathy and taking care of families and community at large.
• After successful completion of final year, the MBBS students are posted to community medicine department for 3 months as a part of compulsory Rotating Internship (CRRI) in batches of 15 – 20 students. CRRIs are given training in Primary Health Centre and Urban Health Centre and in other Public Health Institutions.

Field Practice area:

The facilities available at Rural Health& Training Centre, Venkatachalam and Urban Health Centre, Saraswathi Nagar are utilized for field practice by the students in the Dept. of Community Medicine.

Para Medical Courses:

Lecture classes are conducted for the Para Medical Courses as per prescribed syllabus. At present students of the following Para medical courses are trained in this Department.

B.P.T

B.Sc PM