Indian psychiatric society initiated travel fellowship training in psychiatry: A unique opportunity for young psychiatrists.

Abstract

Byline: Sujita. Kar, Darpan. Kaur Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) is a powerful force in world psychiatry. Over the past several decades, it has reached several milestones; the latest of which is the initiation of Travel Fellowship Training for young faculties in psychiatry, within the country. The Committee for Research and Education Foundation and Training of IPS has started this Travel Fellowship Training for young life fellow/life ordinary member psychiatrists of IPS. This educational program focuses in strengthening the clinical skills of young psychiatrists in their areas of interest by undergoing training in any institute, within the country under the guidance of experts of the country. In the year, 2015 – IPS has awarded the travel fellowship to Dr. Darpan Kaur, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra and Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, U.P. IPS has arranged all the logistics for travel (to and fro airfare in economic class), accommodation and facilitation of official processes at the training institute. In this report, Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar and Dr. Darpan Kaur share their experience of their fellowships. Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar had opted for the fellowship training on the “Brain Stimulation Techniques” from 23[sup]rd November 2015 to 5[sup]th December 2015 and Dr. Darpan Kaur had opted for the fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry from 1[sup]st to 15[sup]th November 2015. Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar undertook training at the Department of Psychiatry at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru under the mentorship of Prof. B. N. Gangadhar, Prof. Jagadisha Thirthalli, and Dr. Urvakhsh M. Mehta. In the 2 weeks training on “Brain Stimulation Techniques” at the NIMHANS, Bengaluru, the focus was to improve the clinical skills in the newer brain stimulation techniques like – repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), and some unique methods in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (especially bi-frontal and electroencephalogram [EEG] monitored ECT). With discussion with the mentors, the following schedule was drawn: *Observing different brain stimulation techniques such as rTMS, tDCS, ECT (especially bi-frontal and EEG monitored ECT) *Hands on training on these techniques *Discussion regarding difficult issues related to these techniques *Reading the resource materials provided *Writing two scientific papers *Making a presentation on a selected topic before completing the training. The trainee directly observed and conducted the hands-on administration of TMS sessions including neuro-navigation assisted rTMS, continuous and intermittent theta burst stimulation, and cerebellar TMS. He had observed tDCS procedure in patients with OCD, alcohol dependence (for anticraving purpose), and persistent auditory hallucination as well as EEG monitored ECT and bi-frontal ECT. Two academic articles are under preparation for publication. He presented a seminar on the topic, “efficacy and predictors of treatment response in rTMS in depression”. At the end of the fellowship, the trainee acquired skills to administer different types of TMS, tDCS, and ECT. He has also acquired knowledge about these brain-stimulation techniques including the potential of setting up similar laboratories elsewhere. He developed the competence of planning research using these techniques. The hospitality and support of the mentors, staff, and residents were unimaginable. Overall, it was a nice and memorable experience of academic, clinical learning which will be helpful in clinical practice, teaching as well as research collaboration. A travel fellowship program of short duration is an excellent opportunity of strong relevance to current generation psychiatrists to build up skills in their area of interest. …