Essential Skills in Postgraduate Medical Curriculum of Community Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: Community-based education has been considered a suitable approach for health promotion and for requisite skill development regarding primary health care. In the current perspective, public health training and research, being two important aspects require immediate attention.Objective: To assess the skills of Postgraduate Students in the Department of Community Medicine in four Medical Colleges of Delhi.Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among 70 Postgraduate Medical Students of 4 Medical Colleges in Delhi. The data were collected through a self administered, pre- tested questionnaire containing items assessing socio-demographic profile and skills essential for Postgraduate Students of Community Medicine.Results: There were 58.6% male and 29% female students. A large proportion of participants were having age range between 25-29 years. Ability 'to resolve conflict among the nurse at Primary Health Centre (PHC)', 'generate community participation', 'making thick and thin smear in case of fever', 'making a chart showing month-wise distribution of CuT', and 'calculating Chi-square of data', were found to significantly higher in 2nd and 3rd year PG students than first year PG students (p<0.01). Only 27.1% of students felt that they could test water sample for microbiological aspects while only 47.1% said that they could examine an industrial worker for pre-placement examination.Conclusions: PG students assessed themselves to possess necessary skills on communication, counselling and health education. However, many students lacked skills pertaining to occupational health and epidemiology.Keywords: Competency in community medicine, public health, epidemiological skills, communication skills