Training general practioners in psychiatry - an icmr multi-centre study

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Public Health
• Medical Education

Background:

• Specialist psychiatric services in India are insufficient to meet the population's mental health needs.
• There is a critical gap in mental healthcare accessibility across India.
• Training primary care physicians is a viable strategy to bridge this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the training program for non-psychiatrist primary care doctors in psychiatry.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of short psychiatric training courses for general practitioners.
• To assess the feasibility of implementing such training on a larger scale.

Main Methods:

• An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Multi-Centre Project was conducted in 1982-83.
• Training utilized methods developed at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS).
• The project involved primary care doctors in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Vellore.

Main Results:

• The training program was successfully completed at all three centers.
• The implemented training methods proved effective in equipping general practitioners with psychiatric skills.
• The project demonstrated the successful application of NIMHANS-developed training protocols.

Conclusions:

• Short-term psychiatric training for general practitioners is an effective strategy to improve mental healthcare delivery.
• The NIMHANS training methodology can be successfully replicated in multi-centre projects.
• This approach offers a scalable solution to enhance psychiatric service availability in underserved areas.