FAQs
The Course is open to psychiatrists and psychiatry trainees anywhere in India. We feel it would be most useful to those who are at the Assistant or Associate Professor level and are guiding postgraduate students with theses. At the same time, in previous batches, even private practitioners found the course useful. Overall, some preference will be given to members of the Indian Psychiatric Society South Zonal Branch.
Yes. There will be online post-tests of MCQs after each of the two modules, but the marks will be used only to determine the best participant award and to give you an idea of where you stand (i.e., there is no failing the Course). You will get a CME credit hours certificate after the first contact session and a Course Completion Certificate after the second. The latter will mention whether you participated in the first and second contact sessions and what percentage of Zoom sessions you attended.
You can attend the contact sessions, the Zoom sessions, and the online activities. You get the option to take part in a multicentric study in the first module and a systematic review and meta-analysis in the second.
During the contact sessions, you get breakfast, lunch, and morning and evening tea and snacks. You will receive CME credit hours and a Completion Certificate. However, you have to pay for travel and accommodation. We will try to provide low-cost accommodation at the hostels of the institutions where the contact sessions happen.
You also get the right to attend the Zoom sessions of the future editions of the BCPR for free if you wish.
The first two contact sessions will be of 3.5 days each, and the third will be of 2.5 days. The Zoom sessions, which may be 20-25 in number, would be of two hours each. The online activities would be there about six days a week and may take 15-30 minutes to complete. If you decide to join a systematic review or a multi-centric study, you would need corresponding amounts of time.
Attendance in any of the above is purely voluntary; we exert no force of any kind in this regard.
Most likely, yes. Last year, our first contact session was awarded four credit hours by the Karnataka Medical Council. The second contact session was awarded six credit hours by the Tamil Nadu Medical Council.
That will depend on the decision of the concerned speaker. Last year, we had provided recordings of some of the presentations. It is always better to attend the live session and actively participate in the discussions.
If you are unable to attend the Course due to unavoidable circumstances, we can postpone your seat to the next batch. If you lose interest in the Course after registration and let us know about it before 15th January 2026, we will refund 50% of the amount.
We will assess the performance in the group activities of the contact sessions (a total of 100 marks). Seven marks each for the seven activities in the first contact session (three marks each for identifying inadequate reporting and methodological flaws, one mark for the clarity of the presentation). In the second contact session, seven marks each for the three group activities, marks divided as above, and 15 marks each for the slides and the poster.
The protocol will be assessed for a total of 100 marks, divided as follows:
- Rationale and Novelty: 20
- Methods: 20
- Data Management and Statistics: 15
- Budget and public health implications: 15
- Slide quality: 10
- Presentation: 10
- Q and A by the group: 10