Patient communication to be part of MBBS grading

As part of the revised curriculum framed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), from 2019, medical students will not only be evaluated on how well they perform operations and treat patients but also on how well they communicate with the patients and their families.
This is the first curriculum revision made by MCI's board of governors after 21 years. Titled 'Competency-based UG Curriculum for the Indian Medical Graduate', the curriculum marks a radical shift as it provides for early clinical exposure, electives and longitudinal care.

As part of the revised curriculum, the MCI has decided to introduce a month-long foundation course wherein students will be thoroughly prepared for the four year long course. "An attempt has been made to allow students from diverse educational streams and backgrounds to transition appropriately through a foundation course. Dedicated time has been allotted for self-directed learning and co-curricular activities," read the curriculum.

A new course titled "attitude, ethics and communication (AETCOM)" is introduced. As per the three volume curriculum released by the MCI on it's website, "Students will be marked on how well they communicate with patients, counsel their families, how many people they manage to convince on organ donation and other similar "non-medical" parameters."

Discouraging the rote learning format, the new curriculum will also expose students to clinical methods from first year itself. Apart from this, it also encourages use of medical mannequins and models for clinical learning even though the use of human cadavers for anatomy training will continue.

Elective subjects have also been added as part of the new curriculum with more emphasis on mental and public health. The MCI has also streamlined the formative and internal assessments to achieve objectives of the curriculum. While the curriculum has been finalised, MCI is in the process of training over 40,000 medical college teachers for smooth implementation of the new syllabus.