• Eligibility: MD / DNB (General Medicine / Paediatrics) degree obtained within the last five years, as per university / MCI regulations.
• Duration: 3 years.
• Number of candidates: 5 candidates per year.
• Method of Selection: provision for admissions through NEET-SS.

A three-year training period designed to meet the minimum requirements for training in Endocrinology prior to certification.

Course and Curriculum of DM Endocrinology & Metabolism

• Basic sciences as related to clinical endocrinology.
• Hormone receptors / receptor biology.
• Genetics in endocrinology.
• Molecular biology.
• Hormonal assays.
• Disorders of growth and sexual differentiation.
• Endocrine disorders in childhood and adolescence.
• Diabetes mellitus.
• Hypothalamo–pituitary disorders.
• Thyroid disorders.
• Reproductive disorders and problems of menopause.
• Bone and mineral metabolism.
• Adreno-cortical and adreno-medullary disorders.
• Metabolic disorders (lipids, carbohydrates and protein metabolism related disorders, including inborn errors of metabolism).

All candidates should be involved full-time in the direct care of patients admitted to the endocrine services as resident staff. This includes taking a complete history, performing a comprehensive examination, ordering appropriate investigations and interpreting results. Residents will also be required to attend outpatient endocrine clinics, where consultants will be available for on-spot consultations — the OPD should run at least three times a week.

Residents are expected to maintain a log book of seminars and journal clubs presented by them, and interesting cases (at least 20) worked up in detail, along with procedures performed during their 3-year tenure.

Residents should be provided a 3-month exposure to hormone assays and the clinical biochemistry lab in the Department of Endocrinology, or in the central laboratory facilities of the institution, so as to provide insight and hands-on training in hormone assays and other laboratory techniques.

The candidate should author 1 research paper and at least 2 case reports in indexed publications, ideally as first author.

Once a week journal club in the department. Once a week seminar in the department. The entire course is divided into 6 semesters — diabetes, thyroid, metabolic bone disease, reproductive endocrinology and paediatric endocrinology, adrenal, pituitary and emergencies — with each semester's seminars dedicated exclusively to one area, so that all major topics are covered across the three years. A six-monthly assessment evaluates theoretical knowledge of the topics covered in each area.

All effort must be made by the department to ensure that each resident attends at least 1 national conference each in endocrinology and diabetes.

Endocrine Radiology

At least fortnightly meetings with the Department of Radiology, conducted to discuss imaging — conventional, CT and MRI — for patients seen in the OPD and in-patient service.

Nuclear Medicine

Residents will be trained in the principles of scanning of various endocrine organs and interpretation of isotope scans. Regular weekly conferences are scheduled with the nuclear medicine department, where faculty and resident staff discuss interesting scans from the previous week.

Training in Pathology

Primarily aimed at giving the trainee insight into endocrine pathology, keeping them updated on emerging methods and trends in the field.

Molecular Biology Courses

A one-week exposure to molecular techniques as relevant to endocrinology is provided. Procedures such as DNA extraction, PCR, RFLP, Southern blots and chromatography are explained to candidates.

Medical Statistics and Research Methodology

A 2-week (15-hour) course in medical statistics is mandatory, acquainting the student with the principles of statistics and data analysis in a currently accepted scientific way. The course is organised in collaboration with the Department of Biostatistics.

Candidates registered for DM are required to prepare a dissertation after undertaking original investigation (clinical or experimental) work, under the supervision of a senior faculty member (Associate Professor / Professor). Progress is reviewed at regular intervals, with results published at the appropriate time based on the progress of the work. Satisfactory completion of this work is a pre-requisite for candidates to appear for the DM examination.

Each candidate should have three presentations for the dissertation — departmental presentation, protocol presentation, and follow-up reviews / final presentation at the time of the final DM practical and oral examinations. The dissertation should be submitted no later than 6 months prior to the final examination.

There will be 3 theory papers of 3 hours each; maximum 100 marks:

• Basic science relevant to the discipline of endocrinology and metabolism.
• Clinical and therapeutic aspects of endocrinology and metabolism.
• Recent advances in endocrinology and metabolism.

Clinical Examination

The clinical acumen of candidates is objectively evaluated by testing their ability to arrive at a diagnosis and suggest methods of management. This examination is conducted over 2 days, even if there is a single candidate.

Day 1: a carefully selected group of patients from across the entire specialty are given as cases for this examination — 2 long cases (one of which must be diabetes), 4 short cases, and 4 spotters.

Day 2: knowledge of evaluating laboratory data in a clinical situation, and of laboratory techniques used in clinical endocrinology and metabolism, is assessed. Clinical slides, imaging, emergencies and viva voce are conducted on the second day. Internal assessment is taken into account so the examination is not a single-day performance — the department holds a 6-monthly internal assessment for each candidate, and this is factored into the final results.

Textbooks

• Williams Textbook of Endocrinology
• Joslin Diabetes Mellitus
• Textbook of Diabetes (Holt's)
• Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease (Stanbury)
• The Thyroid (Ingbar)
• RIA – Principles and Practices (Pillai and Bhandarkar)
• Reproductive Endocrinology (Speroff)
• Textbook of Clinical Chemistry (Tietz)
• Nutritive Value of Indian Foods (Gopalan, ICMR)
• Endocrinology (Leslie J. DeGroot)
• Pediatric Endocrinology (Hindmarsh and CGD Brook)

Journals

• Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
• European Journal of Endocrinology
• Diabetes
• Diabetes Care
• Diabetologia
• Fertility and Sterility
• Nature
• Science
• New England Journal of Medicine
• The Lancet
• Annals of Internal Medicine
• Hormone and Metabolic Research
• American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• British Medical Journal
• Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
• Clinical Endocrinology
• Endocrine and Metabolic Clinics of North America
• Endocrine Reviews
• Endocrine Practice

Postings

• General ward – 12 months
• Private ward – 12 months
• Consults for admitted patients – 10 months

Interdepartmental Posting

• Biochemistry – 2 weeks
• Reproductive Medicine Unit – 1 week
• Paediatric Endocrinology – 4 weeks
• Statistics – 2 weeks
• Molecular Biology – 1 week
• Thyroid USG – 1 day
• FNAC – 4 days (2 hours each day)

Speciality Clinics

Multi-Departmental Meetings