NIMHANS′ objective structured clinical assessment and feedback model could be a boon for budding medical colleges in India

Abstract

Byline: Santosh. Loganathan Sir, Chaturvedi and Chandra [sup][1] reported a novel method for postgraduate training in India using the NIMHANS' Objective Structured Clinical Assessment and Feedback (OSCAF) model. They were able to conduct this training at NIMHANS, a tertiary care center, using the postgraduates as simulated patients and showed that it was acceptable by the trainees. This training model could influence future teaching and training methods in the upcoming medical colleges in the rest of the country. The newly formed body of the Medical Council of India (MCI) recently proposed to increase the number of doctors being churned every year from our country. New medical colleges need to demonstrate to the MCI that they do cater to a fair number of clinical patients at their attached hospital in order to successfully run undergraduate or postgraduate courses. The NIMHANS OSCAF model of training could be considered for psychiatry postgraduates at these centers provided it has been subjected to rigorous testing, approval and sanctioning from concerned authorities. This move could sort out issues related to training as well as keeping the goal to increase the number of doctors (psychiatrists). Besides, NIMHANS has been granted the status of an 'Institute of National Importance' [sup][2] by the Center and it is in a position to ratify its own courses and maybe, in the future the OSCAF model could become a reality at some upcoming centers where patients are hard to find. A few other advantages of this model are that it takes care of confidentiality issues and language barriers. Patients who are concerned about confidentiality of their problems may not consent for interviews with an audience consisting of trainees; and often patients who can be interviewed don't always speak English or a language that can be understood by all trainees at a training session. Considering the multi-linguistic nature of our society (both from the patient and the trainee perspective), this method could certainly address language barriers. The feedback given by consultants and peers are probably the most valuable part of what the trainee takes home, and this particular model describes an interdisciplinary model consisting of trainees and consultants of other specialties apart from psychiatry giving feedback to the postgraduate. The authors mention that this part of the training was the most useful part of the exercise, which is probably the same even when the interview is conducted using actual patients. …