Vinay Babu Koganti1, Samson Sanjeeva Rao Nallapu2
BACKGROUND
Postgraduation in Community Medicine finds few takers and those who do take it up as a career option have many concerns regarding the course. To understand the issues involved, a qualitative method called VIPP was used, which is a people centered approach to identify issues from the perspectives of those involved. This study is set to identify the problems faced by postgraduate students in Community Medicine regarding their course of study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted during a regional postgraduate CME of the NTR University of Health Sciences, Andhra Pradesh. Postgraduates and junior faculty from 5 medical colleges in the region were involved in the exercise after taking their informed consent. Visualisation in Participatory Programmes (VIPP), a qualitative method was used as a means of obtaining information followed by a discussion with visual display of all the mentioned items.
RESULTS
The themes that emerged are problems faced due to the student’s felt inadequacies, faculty shortcomings, issues regarding the department/college management and lacunae in the course structure and implementation.
CONCLUSION
In VIPP, sensitive issues are visually displayed for all to see and contemplate. Many of the student’s issues were actually brought on by poor curriculum planning and implementation. This was also undermining students’ self-esteem and causing anxiety about future career prospects.
