NMC brings new syllabus for PG students to deal with medical health emergency

New Delhi: With a growing number of fatalities in hospital emergency rooms, India’s apex medical education regulator National Medical Commission (NMC) has developed an updated training programme for Doctor of Medicine (MD) in emergency medicine. NMC has directed all medical colleges and hospitals to follow the syllabus with many junior doctors posted in the emergency wards lacking specialty training.

The updated course

The updated course enhances expertise in resuscitation, emergency wound management, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary emergencies, gastrointestinal emergencies, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, trauma and neurology, among others. These health conditions are leading causes of death and disabilities in India with trauma cases being one of the major causes of death among youth. Most of these deaths occur in emergency conditions.

Dr B. Srinivas, secretary NMC, on 7 October, directed all medical colleges and institutions to take note of the new guidelines for the MD programme in emergency medicines.

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Generally, the field of emergency medicine covers almost all subspecialties, and is designed to ensure the management of patients in life-threatening emergencies by providing immediate and definitive care till the patient is taken over by the specialty department concerned.

“This curriculum aims to prepare an MD in Emergency Medicine to acquire the competencies pertaining to knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to function independently and effectively under any circumstances. This will enable them to deliver high-quality emergency care and function effectively as educators, researchers, and administrators in emergency medicine,” the guidelines stated.

The syllabus will enable medical students to develop expertise in taking the medical history, physical examination, decision making and emergency management of patients.

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Queries about the programme sent to the health ministry remained unanswered till press time.

The medical education regulator said that the course will help students to develop empathetic communication with patients and their caregivers, effective collaboration with team members, and the establishment of effective relationships with other departments and staff members. The guidelines will also help students to develop the ability to lead effectively in an emergency department setting, take informed discussions, committed patient care and and lifelong learning.

A NITI Aayog report on emergency care and injury care at district hospitals, published in 2020 stated that the emergency care system in India has seen uneven progress. The study was done by experts from AIIMS Trauma Centre in 34 district hospitals across all zones in the country. 

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The NITI Aayog report stated that the healthcare system suffers from fragmentation of services right from pre-hospital care to facility-based care in the government as well as in the private sector. “The system also suffers from lack of trained human resources, finances, etc. Absence of a standalone academic department since its inception is another factor for the current ails in the system," it said. 

"Most of the hospitals lack presence of general doctors, specialists and nursing staff dedicated for emergency departments vis-à-vis the average footfall of patients, even though, the hospitals as such, had sufficient overall numbers of required human resource. Besides, when present, most of the EDs were manned by junior doctors rather than specialists,” the report added.

The report further recommended establishing academic emergency medicine departments to ensure continuous medical education and development of skills for doctors, nurses and paramedics. “Standardize protocols, SOPs for emergency care, inclusive of triage to have a common optimal nation-wide policy,” it said.