Clinical Skills Centre, BMCRI Introduction The Clinical Skills Centre at Bangalore Medical College and Research Centre (BMCRI) is the contribution of the BMC Alumni Association and BMC Development Trust to BMCRI. The centre was set up as a part of the Alumni activity under the agenda of improving the infrastructure of the college. The Skills centre is the third major contribution of the Alumni to the college the first two being the Seminar Hall and Digital library in 2005 and Wi-Fi enabling the whole campus in 2010. Why do we need a Skills Centre? The skills centre meets the much needed requirement of honing the basic emergency and surgical skills that our students need. This kind of skills training is made mandatory by Medical Council of India. Elsewhere in the world, skill course certification is a must before writing the British and American board examinations in surgical specialties. Very few centres in this country offer this basic facility and training. The demands of present day surgical practice make it important for students to learn basic skills in the laboratory before they practice these skills on patients. Without this training, several ethical and medico-legal questions can be raised by patients and activists. This is inevitable in these days of patient empowerment.
What is unique about our centre? Our centre is unique in several ways: 1. It is a Public-Private partnership; it was set up in the Government Medical College with the space being provided by the College. The centre was set up at a cost of 95 lakhs INR with donations from the alumni, Infosys foundation and GMR Varalakshmi foundation. 2. The teaching curriculum has been approved by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. 3. The mentors at the centre include teaching faculty from BMCRI, other medical colleges and private practicing surgeons. 4. The centre is open to all students and surgeons of the country to come and learn the techniques being taught. 5. The centre offers training in Microsurgery techniques applicable in various super specialties like neurosurgery, Plastic surgery, ENT surgery and Ophthalmology. Courses offered
Each of the courses is a hands on experience for the students with an emphasis on practical training. The course material is systematically divided into several exercises, each of them being held at different stations. The teaching follows adult learning principles with an emphasis on psychomotor domain learning. Each exercise will have a short presentation explaining the principles behind the exercise being taught. The teacher then demonstrates the given exercise. Later the student practices these skills under the direct supervision of a mentor. Active feedback helps the student learn the technique properly. Mentors for the course are carefully selected. They are experienced teachers and practitioners of the skills that they teach. Above all, they are motivated to transfer their skills to the students. Course 1 Basic Clinical Skills - Undergraduate course 1 day course This course is designed for Final year medical students and interns and is meant to equip them to face common emergency department situations with confidence. They are taught to put in peripheral and central venous lines, endotracheal intubation and Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation skills on mannequins. Later they are taught principles of knotting and suturing; use of appropriate needles and sutures for closing common wounds. Course 2 Basic Clinical Skills - Postgraduate course 3 day course The first day is similar to the undergraduate course described above.
The second day is spent in learning principles of wound management and debridement on a trotter. They learn anastomotic techniques on porcine intestine. Vascular anastomosis and tendon repair techniques are learnt on porcine samples. Principles applicable to the use of bowel staplers are also taught. The third day is spent on learning laparoscopic skills on an endo-trainer. Exercises to teach hand-eye coordination, dissection techniques and finally the complex process of knotting and suturing are taught. The session ends with a discussion on the exercises and a feedback from students. Course 3 Neurosurgery skills details to be announced Course 4 ENT surgery skills details to be announced
Course 5 Ophthalmology Skills details to be announced Course Calendar and Registration Courses will be announced at regular intervals. Information about the courses will be available on the Alumni website at bmcalumni.com. Follow the link Clinical Skills Centre on the home page of the alumni website for further details. Registration in advance is compulsory. All final year medical students, interns (for UG course), postgraduates and practicing doctors are welcome to use the facility. Course material with details of exercises, teaching videos and detailed references are given to the candidates at the end of the course. Candidates are encouraged to come back and practice at the facility. Call 26703202 or 9241738137 between 10 am and 5 pm on working days or email bmcalumni@gmail.com for information and registration. You may also contact Dr K Lakshman, Director, at klakshman58@gmail.com The Course fee is as follows: Undergraduate course Rs. 1500=00 Postgraduate Course Rs. 5000=00 Fee for super specialty courses will be announced later.