Internship Training in Community Medicine – Need for Reorientation and Strengthening
Journal Title: Indian Journal of Community Health (IJCH) - Year 2014, Vol 26, Issue 4
Abstract
Background: The goal of MBBS training program is to create a basic doctor, physicians of first contact for the community in the primary care setting both in urban as well as rural areas of our country. Internship is a phase of training wherein a graduate is expected to conduct actual practice of medical and health care and acquire skills under supervision so that he/she may become capable of functioning independently. In the context of public health practice, he should be oriented to provide preventive and promotive health care services to the community, demonstrate skills in monitoring of national health programs and develop leadership qualities to function effectively as a leader of the health team. Methods: This study is based on current status assessment and reviewed literature on internship training in India from PubMed, internet and other sources. The review is presented as need for scenario of internship training in Community Medicine, need for its strengthening, guidelines for internship training and conclusions. Results: There is no uniform pattern for internship training in community medicine, in terms of exposure, training and evaluation, at medical college departments and at rural training centers both in government and private medical colleges. This is further complicated by factors like lack of structured framework for need based training, reduced time period of training, preparation for postgraduate examinations and lack of post training assessment. Poor facilities at rural health training centers and primary health centers like transportation and laboratory facilities, lack of infrastructure and basic amenities to cater to the residential needs of interns pose additional difficulties. Internship training in community medicine should be appropriately structured to provide confidence to medical graduates to practice their profession in common and simple settings, and be able to deliver primary health care services. Conclusions: Protocols for internship training in community medicine in all medical colleges are necessary to make it more responsive to community needs and to improve the quality of undergraduate medical education in India. Capacity building of future health service providers is essential to meet the growing responsibilities of the Medical Officers in the context of revitalizing primary care.
Authors and Affiliations
Subitha Lakshminarayanan, Pankaj Bhardwaj, J Srivastava
Keywords
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