JKPSC Assistant Professor Syllabus (Medical Education)
Syllabus
This 123-page JKPSC document is the syllabus for the objective-type written test for Assistant Professor posts in the Medical Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir — 123 pages covering 33 separate discipline papers, from Anatomy to Casualty Medical Officer. It gives topics only: it states no marks, no duration, no number of questions and no negative marking.
Open the Official Syllabus PageThe PDF opens on the official site. Every topic in it is explained in plain language below — you do not have to open the PDF to read the syllabus.
Compiled from the official syllabus · check it against the official link
What this 123-page JKPSC document actually is ↑
If you are preparing for a college or university Assistant Professor post under the Higher Education Department, this is not your syllabus. This document is for the medical teaching and hospital posts of the Health and Medical Education Department, and its own cover page says so.
The date confusion around this file is worth clearing up before anything else. The name JKPSC's server gives the file carries 17_07_2026, which is when this copy was put on the site. The handwritten note on the cover of the scan describes the same pages as the annexure to notification number 30-PSC (DR-P) of 2022, dated 31-12-2022. Both facts are on the document; neither is our inference.
| What | What the document itself shows |
|---|---|
| Where it is published | jkpsc.nic.in, the website of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission. The direct link is given at the foot of this page. |
| Title printed on the first page | SYLLABUS FOR WRITTEN TEST (OBJECTIVE TYPE) FOR THE POST OF ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MEDICAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT |
| Name the server gives the file | Syllabus for Written test (Objective Type) for various posts of Assistant Professor in Health and Medical Education Department. 17_07_2026.pdf |
| Handwritten note across the cover | Annexure to notification no. 30-PSC (DR-P) of 2022, Dated: 31-12-2022 (Page. 1-123). It is written by hand on the scanned first page, above the printed title. |
| Length | 123 pages. The first page is a scan and carries signatures; pages 2 to 123 are ordinary text. |
| What the test is | A written test, objective type. That phrase is in the title of the document and is the only thing it says about the form of the examination. |
| Disciplines covered | 33 separate discipline blocks, numbered 1 to 28 with sub-letters (8A to 8D, 13A and 13B, 18A and 18B). The full index is in the next section. |
| Topic entries on this page | 670, counted across the 33 discipline sections below. our count across the 33 discipline sections below — the document prints no total. |
Every discipline in the document, with its page range ↑
Find your own discipline in this table first. The page range is the range printed in the document's own footers, so you can open the PDF and go straight to it instead of scrolling through 123 pages.
The last column is the number of topic rows this page carries for that discipline, so you can see at a glance how much of the paper is a list of units and how much is a long enumeration of individual topics.
| No. | Discipline, as the document names it | Pages | Rows here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ANATOMY | 1-4 | 20 |
| 2 | PHYSIOLOGY | 4-7 | 15 |
| 3 | BIO-CHEMISTRY | 7-11 | 14 |
| 4 | PATHOLOGY | 11-17 | 54 |
| 5 | MICROBIOLOGY | 17-19 | 7 |
| 6 | PHARMACOLOGY | 19-22 | 17 |
| 7 | FORENSIC MEDICINE | 23-24 | 19 |
| 8A | COMMUNITY MEDICINE (Assistant Professor / Assistant Professor I/c UTHC/RTHC) [Level-11] | 24-26 | 29 |
| 8B | COMMUNITY MEDICINE (Epidemiologist-cum-Assistant Professor) | 26-28 | 29 |
| 8C | COMMUNITY MEDICINE (Statistician-cum-Assistant Professor) | 29-31 | 29 |
| 8D | COMMUNITY MEDICINE (Lady Medical Officer) | 31-33 | 29 |
| 9 | GENERAL MEDICINE | 34-38 | 18 |
| 10 | TUBERCULOSIS & RESPIRATORY DISEASES | 38-41 | 27 |
| 11 | DERMATOLOGY, VENEREOLOGY & LEPROSY | 41-43 | 14 |
| 12 | PSYCHIATRY | 43-46 | 15 |
| 13A | PAEDIATRICS | 46-52 | 20 |
| 13B | CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST | 52-62 | 78 |
| 14 | GENERAL SURGERY | 62-67 | 73 |
| 15 | ORTHOPAEDICS | 67-68 | 12 |
| 16 | OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGY (ENT) | 68-70 | 24 |
| 17 | OPHTHALMOLOGY | 70-72 | 24 |
| 18A | OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY | 72-73 | 8 |
| 18B | OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY (Assistant Professor / Antenatal Care Incharge) and (Maternity and Child Welfare Officer) [Level-11] | 73 | 8 |
| 19 | RADIODIAGNOSIS | 74-76 | 6 |
| 20 | RADIOTHERAPY | 76-85 | 41 |
| 21 | ANAESTHESIOLOGY | 85-86 | 12 |
| 22 | PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION | 86-89 | 15 |
| 23 | DENTISTRY | 89-92 | 13 |
| 24 | BLOOD BANK | 92-98 | 19 |
| 25 | HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION | 98-105 | 36 |
| 26 | MEDICAL RECORD OFFICER | 106-108 | 10 |
| 27 | LIBRARIAN | 109-115 | 16 |
| 28 | CASUALTY MEDICAL OFFICER | 116-123 | 14 |
What this syllabus does not tell you — and we will not invent ↑
We searched the whole 123 pages for marks, duration, question counts and negative marking. There is nothing. The single fact the document supports about the shape of the examination is in its own title: the test is written and objective type.
For each item below, JKPSC's own notification for the post you are applying for, and the JKPSC website, are the only sources worth trusting.
- The number of questions and the marks. The document does not state either, for any discipline.
- The duration of the paper. Not stated.
- Negative marking. Not stated, in either direction — the document neither imposes it nor rules it out.
- The exam date, the admit card date and the result date. Not stated; a syllabus annexure does not carry them.
- Cut-off marks and the qualifying standard. Not stated.
- Whether there is an interview or a viva, and how it is weighted against the written test. Not stated in this document.
- The eligibility, the age limit, the fee and the vacancy count. Those belong to the recruitment notification, not to a syllabus annexure.
- Any book list. The document prescribes topics, not textbooks — a topic list is not a reading list.
At a glance
| Conducting Body | Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) |
| Post Name | Assistant Professor (Medical Education Department) |
| Selection Process | Not specified in the official syllabus document |
| Official Website | jkpsc.nic.in |
| State | Jammu & Kashmir |
Anatomy — 20 units, on pages 1 to 4 of the PDF ↑
Anatomy is the first discipline in the document, and the only one whose opening pages sit on the scanned cover sheet — Unit-I to Unit-VI are printed there as an image, not as selectable text. Those rows were read off that scan at 300 dpi and then checked against the page by eye.
Twenty units, and their shape is worth seeing before you plan: gross anatomy runs from Unit-I to Unit-IX, embryology, genetics and microanatomy take a unit each, and the last five units are the applied ones — living, sectional, radio-diagnosis, embalming and forensic anthropology.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — General Anatomy | Anatomical terminology: anatomical position, terms of position and movement. Skin and fascia: types of skin, dermatomes, skin appendages, skin incisions, superficial and deep fascia and its modifications. Muscle: classification, tendon against aponeurosis, shunt and spurt muscle. Nervous system: components of the central, peripheral and autonomic systems, neurons and neuroglia, typical spinal nerve and synapse, sympathetic and spinal ganglia. Bones and joints: classification and ossification of bones, types of cartilage, classification of joints. Glands: exocrine and endocrine, classification and function. Vascular and lymphatic system: general features of arteries, veins and lymphatics, portal system, arterial anastomoses, and defining thrombosis, infarction and aneurysm. |
| Unit-II — Osteology | Structure, attachment, relations, ossification, age changes and blood supply of all bones and cartilages. |
| Unit-III — Myology | Attachment, action, nerve supply, vascular supply and relations of the important muscles of the upper limb, lower limb, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, perineum, and head and neck. |
| Unit-IV — Arthology | Structure, relations, movements, vascular and nerve supply, and applied anatomy of every joint in the body. |
| Unit-V — Cardio-Vascular | Pericardium; external and internal features of all the chambers of the heart; blood supply and nerve supply; fibrous skeleton; and the anatomical basis of ischemic heart disease. |
| Unit-VI — Lymphatic System | Immune system and the cell types involved in the body's defence mechanisms. Gross features, cyto-architecture, functions, development and histogenesis of the primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Biological and clinical significance of the major histocompatibility complex of man, including its role in transplantation, disease susceptibility and resistance, and genetic control of the immune response. Lymphatic drainage of all parts and organs of the body; position and relations of the groups of lymph nodes; and the major lymph vessels. |
| Unit-VII — Neuroanatomy | Brain and its environment including meninges, CSF and dural venous sinuses; development of the nervous system; neuron and neuroglia; somatic sensory system; olfactory and optic pathways; cochleovestibular and gustatory pathways; motor pathways; central autonomic pathways; hypothalamo-hypophyseal system; limbic system; basal ganglia; reticular system; cross-sectional anatomy of the brain, brainstem and spinal cord; detailed structure of the CNS and its applied anatomy; and the blood supply of the brain and spinal cord. |
| Unit-VIII — Special Senses | Anatomy of the peripheral receptors of taste, smell, vision, hearing and touch, with their central connections, pathways, functions and applied aspects. |
| Unit-IX — Splanchnology | Gross anatomy of all viscera and organs: respiratory, digestive and urogenital organs, lymphoid organs, and the endocrine and exocrine glands. |
| Unit-X — Embryology | General embryology: gametogenesis, uterine and ovarian cycle, fertilization, implantation and placenta, and early human embryonic development. Systemic embryology: development of the organ systems and the common congenital abnormalities associated with them, teratogenesis, and the physiological correlations of congenital abnormalities. |
| Unit-XI — Genetics | Human chromosomes: structure, number and classification, methods of chromosome preparation, banding patterns. Chromosome abnormalities, autosomal and sex chromosomal abnormalities and syndromes, molecular and cytogenetics. Single gene pattern inheritance: autosomal and sex chromosomal patterns, intermediate pattern and multiple alleles, mutations, non-mendelian inheritance, mitochondrial inheritance, genome imprinting, parental disomy. Multifactorial pattern of inheritance: teratology, structure gene, molecular screening, cancer genetics, haematological malignancies, pharmacogenetics. Reproduction genetics: male and female infertility, abortuses, assisted reproduction, preimplantation genetics, prenatal diagnosis, genetic counselling, ethics of genetics, and the principles of gene therapy and its application. |
| Unit-XII — Microanatomy | Cell biology: cytoplasm (cytoplasmic matrix, cell membrane, cell organelles, cytoskeleton, cell inclusions, cilia and flagella); nucleus (nuclear envelope, nuclear matrix, DNA and the other components of chromatin, protein synthesis, nucleolus, nuclear changes indicating cell death); cell cycle (mitosis, meiosis, cell renewal, cellular differentiation and proliferation). Microscopic structure of the body: types and parts, histological features of all cells, tissues and organs. Principles of light, transmission and scanning, electron, fluorescent, confocal and virtual microscopy. Systems and organs of the body: cellular organization, light and electron microscopic features, and structure-function correlations. |
| Unit-XIII — Applied Anatomy | Applying knowledge of structural anatomy, development and neuroanatomy to recognise deviations from normal; clinical correlations of the structure and functions of the human body; and the anatomical basis of and explanations for clinical problems. |
| Unit-XIV — Functional Anatomy | The relationship of structure to function across the various tissues and organs of the body. |
| Unit-XV — Living Anatomy | Surface marking of all regions of the body, and interpretation of normal radiographs including barium studies, cholecystography, pyelography, salpingography, and normal CT scan, MRI and ultrasound. |
| Unit-XVI — Sectional Anatomy | Cross, sagittal and coronal sections of the brain, head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis and limbs, to understand the inter-relation of organs and to interpret CT and MRI. |
| Unit-XVII — Recent Advances | Recent advances in the medical sciences that help in understanding structure-function correlations and their application in clinical problem solving; and the collection, maintenance and application of stem cells, cryobanking, and the principles of organ donation from recently dead bodies. |
| Unit-XVIII — Radio Diagnosis | Identification of plain X-rays, special radiographic procedures, and arteriography. |
| Unit-XIX — Embalming | Types of embalming and types of embalming fluid, and embalming in special circumstances such as burns, drowning and post-mortem bodies. |
| Unit-XX — Forensic Medicine and Anthropology | Identification of human bones from their remains and determination of sex, age and height for the medicolegal application of anatomy; different anthropological traits; identification and use of anthropological instruments; pelvimetry and cephalometry. The unit closes with recent advances and developments in the discipline. |
Physiology — 15 units, on pages 4 to 7 of the PDF ↑
Fifteen units, organised system by system: general principles and blood first, then nerve and muscle, then the renal, digestive, endocrine, reproductive, cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems, then the special senses.
The last four units are the ones candidates under-read, and they are small enough to finish in a week — environmental physiology, the physiology of sport, exercise, yoga and meditation, ageing, and the history of the subject with its recent advances.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — General Physiological Principles | Principles of homeostasis; positive and negative feedback mechanisms; structure of the cell and of the cell membrane; intercellular communication; transport across the cell membrane; Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium; Nernst equation; fluid compartments of the body and measurement of fluid volumes; osmotic equilibrium between ECF and ICF; basic principles of genetics and their applied aspects; the genetic code, its expression and the regulation of gene expression; cell cycle and its regulation; apoptosis; and the applied aspects of general physiology. |
| Unit-II — Blood | Composition and functions of blood; types and functions of plasma proteins; immunoglobulins; RBC formation and functions; blood indices PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC; anaemias with classification and description; polycythemias; fate of red blood cells; haemoglobin synthesis and functions; chemistry of bilirubin formation and jaundice; blood groups, the basis of grouping and its clinical importance; blood banking, transfusion and the principles of transfusion medicine; WBC formation and functions, leucopenia and leukemias; macrophages; inflammation and its pathophysiology; platelet formation and functions; haemophilia, DIC, thrombocytopenic purpura; haemostasis and its applications including anticoagulants and bleeding disorders; mechanism of coagulation and coagulation tests; thymus and immunity; innate and acquired immunity; allergy, hypersensitivity and immunodeficiency; autoimmune disorders; tissue and organ transplant; lymphoid tissues and lymph; abnormal clotting and bleeding (coagulation factors and anticoagulants); fibrinolysis; congenital abnormalities; immune disorders, the physiological basis of their treatment and the side effects of the drugs used; and the applied aspects of haematology. |
| Unit-III — Muscle and Nerve Physiology | Structure, functions and properties of neuron and neuroglia; classification, functions and properties of nerve fibres; molecular basis of resting membrane and action potential; transmission of nerve impulse; nerve injuries, Wallerian degeneration and regeneration of the nerve fibre after injury; structure, types and properties of muscle fibres; action potential in the different muscle types; excitation-contraction coupling; mechanisms of muscle contraction; structure of and transmission across the neuromuscular junction; neuromuscular blocking agents; pathophysiology of myasthenia gravis and Eaton-Lambert syndrome; muscular changes during exercise; visceral and multi-unit smooth muscle, excitation-contraction coupling in smooth muscle and its characteristics — plasticity and the latch phenomenon; and the applied aspects of nerve-muscle physiology. |
| Unit-IV — Renal System | Structure and functions of the nephron and of the juxtaglomerular apparatus including the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system; physiology of urine formation; transport maximum and renal threshold; GFR and the factors affecting it; mechanism of concentration and dilution of urine including the counter current mechanism; acidification of urine; body fluid compartments and water balance, regulation of fluid and electrolyte balance; regulation of extracellular sodium and osmolarity; concept of renal clearance; acid base balance and its regulation; innervation of the bladder, micturition, cystometrogram and bladder dysfunction; diuretics; artificial kidney and dialysis; radiology and renal imaging; renal failure and renal function tests; renal transplant; and the applied aspects of renal physiology. |
| Unit-V — Digestive System | General organization of GIT muscles, innervation and nerve plexuses; functions and composition of salivary, gastric, pancreatic and intestinal secretions and of bile; liver structure and functions and liver function tests; jaundice, its types and laboratory investigations; gastrointestinal hormones — source, regulation and functions; gastrointestinal movements and GIT reflexes; vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation; dietary fibres; digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and trace elements; pathophysiology of peptic ulcer and diarrhoeal disease; cause, pathophysiology and clinical features of acute pancreatitis; gallstones, steatorrhoea and malabsorption syndrome; and the applied aspects of the GIT. |
| Unit-VI — Endocrinology | Types of hormones, mechanism of hormone action, and the estimation and assessment of hormones; physiological actions and the effects of altered secretion of the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands, the pancreas, the pineal gland and the hypothalamus; disorders of the anterior and posterior pituitary; thyroid disorders, thyroid function tests and anti-thyroid drugs; disorders of the parathyroid gland, calcium homeostasis, bone physiology and metabolic bone diseases; disorders of adrenocortical and medullary hormones; and the applied aspects of the endocrine system. |
| Unit-VII — Reproductive System | Sex differentiation and development, functions of the testis and ovary; spermatogenesis and the factors influencing it; cryptorchidism; chromosomal abnormalities; the menstrual cycle — hormonal, uterine and ovarian changes — and menstrual disorders; physiological changes during pregnancy, the fetoplacental unit and placental hormones; parturition and lactation; the physiological basis of pubertal changes and menopause, and pubertal disorders; physiological effects of the sex hormones; tests of pregnancy; foetal and neonatal physiology; physiology of contraception and the male and female contraceptive methods; and the applied aspects of the reproductive system. |
| Unit-VIII — Cardiovascular System | Structure and properties of cardiac muscle; resting membrane and action potential; excitation-contraction coupling and the process of cardiac muscle contraction; pacemaker potential and the conducting system of the heart; mechanical events and pressure-volume changes during the cardiac cycle; heart sounds, murmurs and valvular lesions; Frank-Starling law; jugular venous pulse; regulation of heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output; electrocardiogram — physiological basis, applications, abnormal ECG and the pattern in myocardial infarction; cardiac arrhythmias; effect of changes in ECF potassium, calcium and sodium; conduction defects and first, second and third degree block; electrical axis of the heart; heart blocks and the pathophysiology of heart failure; haemodynamics of the circulatory system; regional circulation — coronary, splanchnic, cerebral, capillary, foetal and pulmonary; physiology of shock, coronary artery disease and hypertension; cardio-pulmonary resuscitation; lymphatic circulation; cardiovascular responses to exercise; and the applied aspects of the CVS. |
| Unit-IX — Respiratory System | Functional anatomy of the respiratory system; physical principles of gaseous exchange; surfactants; transport of respiratory gases; mechanics of normal respiration; pulmonary volumes and capacities; pulmonary ventilation and the ventilation-perfusion ratio; regulation of respiration; lung function tests and their clinical significance; principles of artificial respiration and oxygen therapy; acclimatization at high altitude and decompression sickness; hypoxia, carbon monoxide poisoning, oxygen toxicity, cyanosis and asphyxia; cardio-respiratory changes during exercise and yoga; pulmonary abnormalities — chronic pulmonary emphysema, pneumonia, atelectasis, asthma; blood gas analysis; artificial respiration; effects of acceleratory forces on the body in aviation and space physiology, artificial climate in a sealed spacecraft and weightlessness in space; physiological changes at high altitude, acute and chronic mountain sickness and pulmonary oedema; artificial ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; hazards of deep sea diving; and the applied aspects of the respiratory system. |
| Unit-X — Central Nervous System | Organization of the nervous system; functions, types and properties of the synapse; neurotransmitters; spinal cord anatomy and its functions; stretch reflexes and tendon jerks; muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organ; physiology of the brain stem; sensory receptors; motor and sensory systems and their applied aspects; neurophysiology of the cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebellum, limbic system and reticular activating system; parkinsonism; mechanism of maintenance of tone, posture and equilibrium and the regulation of posture and movement; vestibular apparatus; higher functions — memory, learning including conditioned reflexes, speech and its disorders; sections of the spinal cord; EEG and sleep; epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and sleep disorders; neurophysiology of pain; CSF; autonomic nervous system, autonomic function tests and drugs acting on the ANS; and the applied aspects of the CNS. |
| Unit-XI — Special Senses | Functional anatomy of the eye; physiology of image formation, phototransduction and colour vision; refractive errors; visual reflexes — pupillary and light reflex; visual pathways and visual field defects; functional anatomy of the ear; functions of the external ear, middle ear and cochlea; properties of sound, the mechanism of hearing, deafness, hearing tests and hearing aids; role of the inner ear in balance and equilibrium; perception of smell and taste sensation, their pathways and applied aspects; auditory and visual evoked potentials; and the applied aspects of ear and eye physiology. |
| Unit-XII — Environmental Physiology | Mechanism of temperature regulation; adaptation to altered temperature, heat and cold; mechanism of fever; cold injuries and heat stroke; and the physiological changes of adaptation in various environments. |
| Unit-XIII — Physiology of Sports, Exercise, Yoga and Meditation | Cardio-respiratory and metabolic adjustments, and the physiological effects of yoga and meditation. |
| Unit-XIV — Physiology of Ageing | Physiological and psychological changes of ageing, the theories of ageing, and prevention of ageing. |
| Unit-XV — History and Recent Advances in Physiology | The contribution of physiologists to the development and evolution of newer techniques and to progress in the field. The unit closes with recent advances and developments in the discipline. |
Bio-Chemistry — 14 units, on pages 7 to 11 of the PDF ↑
Fourteen units, and the first one is not biochemistry at all — it is the laboratory: instruments, safety, biomedical waste and quality management. Candidates who prepare only the metabolic pathways walk past a whole unit of marks.
Units II to XII follow the standard MD Biochemistry progression from protein structure through the metabolisms to organ function tests, and the last two units are labelled Special Topics A and B, which is where cancer, AIDS, aging, free radicals, bioinformatics, evidence based laboratory medicine and acid base balance sit.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — Biochemistry Laboratory | Measurement of mass, basic calculations and preparation of solutions. Laboratory essentials: glassware, basic equipment, collection and preservation of biological fluids, blood collection methods, separation, precautions, preservation, storage and transport of blood samples. Good safe laboratory practice: hazards of dangerous chemicals, infection hazards, first-aid and emergency treatment. Instrumentation and techniques: pH meter, colorimetry, spectrophotometry, electrophoresis, chromatography, ISE, mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, chemiluminescence, radioimmunoassay, ELISA, autoanalyser, arterial blood gas analyser, and their clinical applications. Biomedical waste management: classification of hazardous waste and the waste management process. Total quality management: quality laboratory processes, quality assurance, assessment and control, quality control charts, six sigma, accreditation and certification. |
| Unit-II — Protein Structure and Function | Amino acids and peptides: classification and reactions, peptide bond, biologically active peptides, separation techniques. Proteins: properties, functions, classification, organisation, sequence analysis of protein structure, protein misfolding, quantitative estimation, clinical aspects. Plasma proteins: functions and clinical significance. Enzymes: classification and nomenclature, coenzymes, mode of action, catalysis, enzyme kinetics, factors affecting and regulation of enzyme activity, enzyme inhibition, isoenzymes, assay methods, enzymes in clinical diagnosis, therapeutic enzymes. Heme proteins: structure and function of haemoglobin and myoglobin, oxygen dissociation curve, allosteric effects, minor haemoglobins, haemoglobinopathies. |
| Unit-III — Overview of Metabolism | Metabolic adaptations during fasting, starvation and the well-fed state, and interconversion of metabolic fuels. Metabolic profile of organs — brain, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, adipose tissue, liver, heart, kidney and erythrocytes — and metabolic changes during pregnancy, lactation, trauma and critical illness. |
| Unit-IV — Bioenergetics and Carbohydrate Metabolism | Biologic oxidation, respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation: high energy phosphates, redox potential, enzymes of oxidation-reduction reactions, electron transport chain, transport systems, clinical aspects. Citric acid cycle: amphibolic role, reactions, energetics, regulation. Metabolism of carbohydrates: functions, classification, properties and reactions, glycosaminoglycans, dietary carbohydrate metabolism, glucose transporters, glycolysis and oxidation of pyruvate, glycogen metabolism, pentose phosphate and other hexose pathways, gluconeogenesis and control of blood glucose, diabetes mellitus and its laboratory diagnosis, metabolism of alcohol, amino sugars, blood group substances, proteoglycans and glycoproteins, and clinical aspects. |
| Unit-V — Lipid Metabolism | Functions, classification and properties of lipids, fatty acids, prostaglandins and eicosanoids. Dietary lipid metabolism, oxidation and biosynthesis of fatty acids, diseases of impaired fatty acid oxidation, phospholipid, glycosphingolipid and eicosanoid metabolism, ketone body and acylglycerol metabolism, lipid transport and storage, metabolism of adipose tissue, fatty liver, lipotropic factors, cholesterol metabolism, the role of dyslipidemia in atherosclerosis, cardiac biomarkers, and clinical aspects. |
| Unit-VI — Protein and Amino Acid Metabolism | Amino acid metabolism: dietary protein metabolism, catabolism of proteins and amino acid nitrogen, metabolism of ammonia, urea cycle and related disorders, catabolism of carbon skeletons, conversion of amino acids to specialised products, synthesis of nutritionally non-essential amino acids, metabolic defects. Heme synthesis and breakdown: structure, biosynthesis and degradation of heme, porphyrias, bilirubin metabolism, jaundice. |
| Unit-VII — Nucleotide Metabolism | Biosynthesis, degradation and regulation of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, and the disorders of purine and pyrimidine metabolism. |
| Unit-VIII — Nutrition | Energy metabolism and nutrition: energy requirements, importance of dietary fats, carbohydrates and proteins, calorific value of foods, respiratory quotient, BMR, specific dynamic action, dietary fibres, balanced diet, glycemic index, enteral and total parenteral nutrition, and nutritional disorders including protein energy malnutrition, obesity and atherosclerosis. Electrolytes, water balance and body fluids: water balance, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, clinical aspects. Mineral metabolism: major and trace elements, and the clinical conditions of deficiency or excess. Vitamins: sources, biochemical functions, RDA, clinical features, and their role in health and disease. |
| Unit-IX — Hormones | Classification of hormones and the mechanism of action of endocrine hormones; production, transport and storage of hormones, with clinical aspects. |
| Unit-X — Structure, Function and Replication of Informational Macromolecules | Nucleotides and nucleic acids: composition, synthetic nucleotides, structure, functions and higher organisation of DNA, and the structure, types and functions of RNA. Molecular genetics, recombinant and genomic technology: principles of heredity, laws and patterns of inheritance, procedures of recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering, applications, DNA hybridization, DNA sequencing. DNA organisation, replication and repair: chromatin, higher order organisation, chromosomes, human mitochondrial DNA, cell cycle, DNA recombination, replication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, inhibitors, repair mechanisms and the diseases of defective repair. RNA synthesis: mechanism in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, inhibitors, modifications, reverse transcription. Protein synthesis and the genetic code: characteristics of the code, mutations, wobble hypothesis, mechanism in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, inhibitors, post-translational processing. Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, gene amplification, epigenetic modifications, motifs. |
| Unit-XI — Inborn Error of Metabolism | Molecular basis and consequences of genetic disease, diagnosis and treatment of inborn errors of metabolism, prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling. |
| Unit-XII — Organ Function Tests | Liver, renal, gastric, adrenal, thyroid and pancreatic function tests, with their clinical aspects. |
| Unit-XIII — Special Topics A | The extracellular matrix: structural and functional properties of collagen, elastin and the other important ECM proteins, bone and cartilage, and associated diseases. Immunochemistry: antigen, immune response, antibody diversity, structure, classes and functions of immunoglobulins, transposition of genes, monoclonal antibodies, MHC, complement system, vaccines, paraproteinemias. Muscle biochemistry: protein composition of skeletal muscle, mechanism of muscle contraction, source of energy, muscle disorders. Metabolism of xenobiotics: phases and effects. Body fluids: milk, colostrum, cerebrospinal fluid, amniotic fluid, ascitic fluid, pleural fluid, aqueous humor. Environmental biochemistry: air pollutants, toxic substances in foodstuffs, neurotoxins, heavy metal poisoning, occupational and industrial hazards, corrosives and irritants, effects of extreme climate on health, diseases associated with environmental pollutants. Radioisotopes in medicine: use in diagnosis, treatment and research. |
| Unit-XIV — Special Topics B | Biochemistry of cancer: growth characteristics of cancer cells, carcinogenesis, causes of genetic damage, oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes, apoptosis, biochemical basis of cancer therapy, tumour markers, anticancer drugs, epigenetic mechanisms, clinical aspects. Biochemistry of AIDS and its laboratory diagnosis. Biochemistry of aging and the theories of aging. Free radicals and antioxidants: sources of oxygen radicals, free radical scavenger systems, antioxidants as prooxidants, lipid peroxidation, free radicals and disease. Bioinformatics and computational biology: genomics, the human genome project, bioinformatic and genomic resources, identification of proteins. Evidence based laboratory medicine: concept, definition, objectives and applying its principles in routine practice. Acid base balance: acids and bases, the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, buffer systems, regulation of pH, anion gap, disturbances of acid base balance, clinical aspects. The unit closes with recent advances and developments in the discipline. |
Pathology — 29 Recent Advances topics and 25 main topics, on pages 11 to 17 ↑
Pathology is the one discipline in this document that opens with a list of Recent Advances topics before the main syllabus — twenty-nine of them, printed as titles rather than as topic groups. They read like a journal contents page, and they are examinable scope, so they are reproduced here first and in full.
The main syllabus then runs to twenty-five numbered topics, from cell injury through the systemic pathologies to cytopathology, laboratory instruments, blood transfusion and biomedical waste.
| No. | Recent Advances topic named in the syllabus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Antibody-mediated rejection of solid organ allografts |
| 2 | The maternal death autopsy |
| 3 | Classification and treatment of non-small-cell lung carcinoma |
| 4 | Pathology of obesity |
| 5 | Stratified medicine for cancer: the role of the histopathologist |
| 6 | Mucosal pathology of the gastric cardia and Barrett's oesophagus |
| 7 | Pathology of regenerative and neoplastic hepatocellular nodules |
| 8 | Serrated lesions of colon and rectum |
| 9 | An update on the pathology of chronic inflammatory bowel disease |
| 10 | Diagnosis and therapy of gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma |
| 11 | Medical revalidation for histopathologists |
| 12 | Molecular testing for human papillomavirus |
| 13 | Tensins in health and disease |
| 14 | Pathology in the undergraduate curriculum |
| 15 | Primary carcinoma of the salivary gland — selected recent advances |
| 16 | Cancer invasion and metastasis: the concept of epithelial mesenchymal transition |
| 17 | Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) in neoplastic progression — where are we now? |
| 18 | Osteoarthritis — new concepts |
| 19 | Cutaneous pseudolymphoma |
| 20 | Liquid based cytology for cervical screening |
| 21 | Pitfalls in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumours of childhood |
| 22 | Sudden unexpected death in infancy |
| 23 | The non-invasive or minimally invasive autopsy |
| 24 | Bio-terrorism |
| 25 | Predictive and prognostic molecular markers in breast cancer |
| 26 | Digital photography in histopathology |
| 27 | Adult stem cells and transdifferentiation |
| 28 | Role of immunohistochemistry in problematic prostate biopsy |
| 29 | Cytokeratin immunostaining profile in diagnostic pathology |
| Main topic | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Cell Injury | Cause and mechanism: ischemic, toxic and apoptosis. Reversible cell injury: types, morphology, hyaline and fatty change. Irreversible cell injury: types of necrosis, gangrene. Calcification: dystrophic and metastatic. Extracellular accumulation: amyloidosis, classification, pathogenesis, morphology. |
| 2 — Inflammation and repair | Acute inflammation: features, causes, vascular and cellular events, and its morphological variants. Inflammatory cells and mediators. Chronic inflammation: causes, types, non-specific and granulomatous with common examples. Wound healing by primary and secondary union, the factors that promote and delay it, and complications. |
| 3 — Immunopathology | Immune pathology: organization, cells, antibodies and regulation of immune responses. Hypersensitivity: types and examples, antibody and cell mediated tissue injury. Autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Organ transplantation: the immunological basis of rejection and graft versus host reaction. |
| 4 — Infectious diseases | Mycobacterial diseases: tuberculosis and leprosy. Bacterial: pyogenic, typhoid, diphtheria, gram-negative infections, bacillary dysentery, syphilis. Viral: polio, herpes, rabies, measles, rickettsial and chlamydial infections. Fungal disease and opportunistic infections. Parasitic: malaria, filaria, amoebiasis, kala azar, cysticercosis, hydatid. AIDS: etiology, modes of transmission, pathogenesis, pathology, complications, diagnostic procedures, handling of infected material and health education. |
| 5 — Circulatory disturbances | Oedema: pathogenesis and types. Chronic venous congestion of lung, liver and spleen. Thrombosis and embolism: formation, fate and effects. Infarction: types, common sites, gangrene. Shock: pathogenesis, types and morphological changes. |
| 6 — Growth disturbances | Atrophy, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, hypoplasia, metaplasia, malformation, agenesis, dysplasia. Neoplasia: causes, classification, histogenesis, biological behaviour, benign and malignant, carcinoma and sarcoma. Malignant neoplasia: grades and stages, local and distant spread. Carcinogenesis: environmental, chemical, viral, occupational and hereditary carcinogens and the molecular basis of cancer. Tumour and host interaction: systemic effects including paraneoplastic syndrome, tumour immunology. Laboratory diagnosis: cytology, biopsy, tumour markers. Tumours and tumour-like conditions of soft tissues. |
| 7 — Miscellaneous disorders | Autosomal and sex-linked disorders with examples. Protein energy malnutrition and vitamin deficiency disorders. Radiation injuries. Disorders of pigments and mineral metabolism such as bilirubin, melanin and haemosiderin. |
| 8 — Haematopathology | Anaemia: classification and clinical features. Nutritional anaemia: iron deficiency, folic acid and vitamin B12 deficiency including pernicious anaemia. Haemolytic anaemia: classification and investigation. Hereditary haemolytic anaemia: thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, hereditary spherocytosis, G6PD deficiency. Acquired haemolytic anaemias: malaria, kala azar, autoimmune, alloimmune, drug induced, microangiopathic. Haemostatic disorders: platelet deficiency, ITP, drug induced, secondary. Coagulopathies: coagulation factor deficiency, haemophilia, DIC and anticoagulant control. Leucocytic disorders: leucocytosis, leucopenia, leukemoid reaction. Acute and chronic leukemia: classification and diagnosis. Multiple myeloma and dysproteinemias. Blood transfusion: grouping and cross matching, untoward reactions, transmissible infections including HIV and hepatitis. Myelodysplastic syndrome. Myeloproliferative disorders: polycythemia, myelofibrosis. |
| 9 — Cardiovascular Pathology | Acute rheumatic fever: etiopathogenesis, morphological changes and complications including rheumatic heart disease. Infective endocarditis: etiopathogenesis, morphological changes and complications. Atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction. Hypertension and hypertensive heart disease. Congenital heart disease: ASD, VSD, Fallot's tetralogy, bicuspid aortic valve, PDA. Pericarditis. Cardiomyopathy. |
| 10 — Respiratory Pathology | Structure of the bronchial tree and alveolar walls, normal and altered; inflammatory diseases of bronchi — chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis. Pneumonias: lobar, broncho, interstitial. Lung abscess: etiopathogenesis, morphology, complications. Pulmonary tuberculosis: primary and secondary, morphologic types including pleuritis. Emphysema: types and pathogenesis. Tumours: epithelial malignant neoplasms of lung and their etiopathogenesis. Concepts of obstructive and restrictive lung disorders — chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma. Nasopharyngeal and laryngeal tumours. Occupational lung disorders: anthracosis, silicosis, asbestosis, mesothelioma. Atelectasis and hyaline membrane disease. |
| 11 — Renal and Urinary tract pathology | Basics of impaired function and urinalysis. Glomerulonephritis: classification, primary proliferative and non-proliferative, secondary (SLE, polyarteritis, amyloidosis, diabetes mellitus). Clinical presentation of renal disorders including nephritic and nephrotic syndrome, acute renal failure, recurrent hematuria, CRF. Acute renal failure: acute tubular and cortical necrosis. Pyelonephritis, reflux nephropathy, interstitial nephritis. Renal cell tumours: renal cell carcinoma, nephroblastoma. Urinary bladder: cystitis, carcinoma. Progressive renal failure and end stage renal disease. Renal vascular disorders. Urinary tract tuberculosis. Nephrolithiasis and obstructive nephropathy. Renal malformation, polycystic kidney. |
| 12 — Pathology of Gastrointestinal tract | Oral pathology: leukoplakia, carcinoma of oral cavity and esophagus. Peptic ulcer: etiopathogenesis and complications, types of gastritis. Tumours of stomach: benign, polyp, leiomyoma, malignant, adenocarcinoma and other gastric tumours. Inflammatory disease of small intestine: typhoid, tuberculosis, Crohn's disease, appendicitis. Inflammatory disease of large intestine: amoebic colitis, bacillary dysentery, ulcerative colitis. Large and small intestine tumours: polyps, carcinoid, carcinoma, lymphoma. Pancreatitis. Salivary gland tumours. Ischemic and pseudomembranous enterocolitis, diverticulitis. Malabsorption: coeliac disease, tropical sprue and other causes. Pancreatic tumours: endocrine, exocrine and periampullary. |
| 13 — Liver and Biliary tract pathology | Jaundice: types, etiopathogenesis and differentiation. Hepatitis: acute and chronic, etiology, pathogenesis and pathology. Cirrhosis: etiology, classification, pathology, complications. Portal hypertension: types and manifestations. Diseases of gall bladder: cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, carcinoma. Tumours of liver: hepatocellular, metastatic, tumour markers. |
| 14 — Lymphoreticular System | Lymphadenitis: non-specific, granulomatous, Hodgkin's lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: classification and morphology. Diseases of spleen: splenomegaly and its effects. |
| 15 — Reproductive system | Diseases of cervix: cervicitis, cervical carcinoma, etiology, cytological diagnosis. Hormonal influences and the histological appearance of the phases of the menstrual cycle and its abnormalities. Diseases of uterus: endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma, adenomyosis, smooth muscle tumours. Trophoblastic diseases: hydatiform mole and choriocarcinoma. Diseases of breast: mastitis, abscess, fibrocystic disease, neoplastic lesions, fibroadenoma, carcinoma, phyllodes tumours. Prostate: nodular hyperplasia, carcinoma. Ovarian and testicular tumours. Carcinoma of penis. Pelvic inflammatory disease including salpingitis. Genital tuberculosis. |
| 16 — Osteopathology | Osteomyelitis: acute, chronic, tuberculous. Metabolic diseases: rickets and osteomalacia, osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism. Tumours: primary, osteosarcoma, osteoclastoma, Ewing's sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, metastatic. Arthritis: rheumatoid, osteoid and tuberculous. Healing of fractures. |
| 17 — Endocrine pathology | Diabetes mellitus: types, pathogenesis, pathology. Non-neoplastic lesions of thyroid: iodine deficiency goitre, autoimmune thyroiditis, thyrotoxicosis, myxoedema. Tumours of thyroid: adenoma and carcinoma — papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic. Adrenal disease: cortical hyperplasia, atrophy, tuberculosis, tumours of cortex and medulla. Parathyroid hyperplasia and tumours. |
| 18 — Neuropathology | Inflammatory disorders: pyogenic and tubercular meningitis, brain abscess, tuberculoma. CNS tumours: primary glioma and meningioma, and metastatic. CSF and its disturbances: cerebral oedema, raised intracranial pressure. Cerebrovascular disease: atherosclerosis, thrombosis, embolism, aneurysm, hypoxia, infarction and haemorrhage. |
| 19 — Dermato-pathology | Skin tumours: squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, adnexal tumours, with the common non-neoplastic skin diseases. |
| 20 — Tumours of soft tissues | Routine processing and frozen sections. Ancillary diagnostic tests, immunohistochemistry, tumour markers and their interpretation. |
| 21 — Molecular genetics | Hybrid DNA techniques and their application in disease. |
| 22 — Cytopathology | Collection procedures and interpretation of the diagnosis. Exfoliative cytology of body fluids, urinary tract, female genital tract, amniotic fluid and tears. Fine needle aspiration cytology. Imprint, crush smear and biopsy sediment cytology. Buccal smears for sex chromatin bodies. |
| 23 — Laboratory hi-tech instruments | Knowledge of the techniques, procedures, principles and clinical interpretation of tests using: haematology auto-analysers, flow cytometer, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), electron microscope, phase contrast microscope, fluorescent microscope and electrophoresis. |
| 24 — Rational use and safe blood transfusion | Blood banking procedures and preparation of blood components with their storage. |
| 25 — Lab biomedical waste | Principles of collection, segregation and disposal. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Microbiology — one general block and six lettered blocks, on pages 17 to 19 ↑
Microbiology is not numbered into units. It opens with a General Microbiology block and then runs A to F: bacteriology, immunology, mycology, virology, parasitology, and applied microbiology with recent advances.
Parasitology is the one block written as a list rather than a paragraph — thirteen separate entries from protozoa to miscellaneous parasites — so it is the easiest place in this discipline to check your own coverage.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| General Microbiology | Historical introduction; microscopy and micrometry; laboratory use and care of instruments; biosafety measures, containment facilities and shipment of microbiological material; sterilization and disinfection, sterility testing and sterilization indicators; nomenclature and classification of microorganisms; normal flora of the human body; microbiology of water, milk and air and its application; collection, transportation and processing of clinical specimens; laboratory diagnosis of infections, culture media and methods, stains and identification tests, maintenance of stock cultures; care, use and experimental techniques on laboratory animals; microbial infections, molecular genetics and microbiological applications. |
| A — Bacteriology | Morphology, physiology, taxonomy, cultural characteristics, virulence factors, antigenicity and the mechanisms of drug resistance in bacteria; anaerobiosis; conventional and non-conventional (recent and molecular) methods for detecting bacteria of medical importance — Gram positive cocci such as staphylococci, streptococci and pneumococci; Gram negative cocci such as Neisseria and peptostreptococci; Gram negative bacilli such as the Enterobacteriaceae family, Haemophilus, Bordetella, Brucella and other fastidious organisms; Gram positive bacilli such as corynebacterium, B. anthracis, clostridium and mycobacterium; tuberculosis and non-tubercular mycobacteria, Mycobacterium leprae, actinomycetes, Rickettsiaceae, orientia, ehrlichia and coxiella, chlamydia and chlamydophila, mycoplasma and ureaplasma, treponemes, borrelia, leptospira, other non-spore anaerobes and rarely encountered bacteria; identification of non-cultivable bacterial pathogens; and the choice of antibacterial agents. |
| B — Immunology | Infection and immunity; antigen, antibody, complement and antigen-antibody reactions with special reference to simple, rapid and automated techniques such as ELISA, immunochromatography and blotting; structure and function of the immune system, immune response, detection methods and applications; hypersensitivity, immunodeficiency diseases and autoimmunity; immunology of transplantation and malignancy, HLA typing and tissue matching techniques; use of monoclonal antibodies in disease diagnosis; immunoprophylaxis, immunomodulation and immunotherapy; immunohaematology and transfusion transmissible infection (TTI); and the use of experimental animals — suckling, SCID, nude and knock-out mice — in immunology. |
| C — Mycology | General properties, nomenclature, classification and morphology of fungi of medical importance; epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, prevention, control and treatment of fungal infections; laboratory diagnosis by cultural techniques (slide culture, scotch tape preparation, germ tube test, cornmeal agar inoculation, identification on morphology, sugar fermentation and assimilation tests, exo-antigen test) and non-cultural techniques (serology, animal inoculation, molecular methods) for cutaneous, subcutaneous, deep, systemic and opportunistic mycoses caused by yeasts, yeast-like fungi, hyalohyphomycetes, phaeohyphomycetes, phycomycetes and dimorphic fungi; and antifungal drugs, in-vitro susceptibility testing and the mechanism of drug resistance. |
| D — Virology | General properties, nomenclature, classification and replication of viruses; cultural and non-cultural methods of laboratory diagnosis; special techniques of virus culture such as shell vial culture and egg inoculation; collection, transportation and processing of samples for viral diagnosis; recent advances in virus detection; virus-host interactions, viral genetics and the pathogenesis of infections caused by DNA viruses, RNA viruses, bacteriophages, slow viruses including prions, conventional viruses and oncogenic viruses, with special reference to hepatitis and HIV; miscellaneous viruses — SARS and corona, zika, avian influenza; viral haemorrhagic fevers; and viral vaccines and antiviral drugs. |
| E — Parasitology | General introduction: taxonomy, host, host-parasite relationship, transmission, epidemiology, life cycle, pathogenesis, immunology, laboratory diagnosis and treatment of parasites of medical importance. Then, entry by entry: introduction to protozoa with general features and classification; amoeba including free living amoeba; intestinal and genital flagellates; haemoflagellates; malarial parasites and babesia; opportunistic coccidian parasites; miscellaneous protozoa; helminthology — general characteristics, morphology and life cycle; cestodes; trematodes or flukes; intestinal nematodes and nematodes of lower animals; somatic nematodes; and miscellaneous parasites with their laboratory diagnosis. |
| F — Applied Microbiology, Scope and Recent Advances | Biomedical waste management and disposal of infectious waste; monitoring of drug resistance, especially MRSA, VRSA, VISA, VRE and ESBL production in Gram negative bacilli; hospital acquired infections and their control; epidemiological typing methods and outbreak management; opportunistic infections with special reference to HIV/AIDS; cost-effective, simple and rapid diagnostic techniques; epidemiology of infectious diseases including arthropod-borne disease and zoonoses; biological warfare and bioterrorism; gene manipulation, genetic engineering, gene cloning and gene therapy; infectious agents and their association with cancer; emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; recent advances in molecular diagnostics such as PCR, TMA and DNA probe detection; automation, quality control and assurance; antimicrobial therapy, drug resistance and antimicrobial stewardship; and newer vaccine development. The syllabus adds that all practical techniques related to these topics, and any other topic of microbiological interest, are included. |
Pharmacology — 17 units, on pages 19 to 22 ↑
Seventeen units, written as bullet lists rather than paragraphs, which makes this one of the easiest disciplines in the document to convert straight into a checklist.
Note where the weight sits at the end: Unit-XIV to Unit-XVII are biochemical pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, research methodology and biostatistics — four units that are not drug pharmacology at all, and that a candidate revising only drug classes will never touch.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — Basic and Clinical Pharmacology | History and development of pharmacology; structure-activity relationships and their significance; chemical nomenclature as used in pharmacology; passage of drugs across biological membranes; absorption and distribution of drugs and binding to plasma proteins; biotransformation and excretion of drugs and the factors affecting them; mechanism of action; drug-drug interactions and iatrogenic disorder; pharmacogenetics; drug addiction and its management; teratogenicity and carcinogenicity including the methods of studying them; and drug resistance. |
| Unit-II — Autonomic Nervous System | Anatomical and physiological considerations of the ANS; cholinergic agonists and anticholinergic drugs; neuromuscular blocking agents and the screening of neuromuscular and ganglionic blocking agents; anticholinesterase agents and their reactivators; receptor mechanism and the pharmacological characterization of adrenergic receptors; catecholamine biosynthesis and release and the factors affecting them; catecholamines, their pharmacology and therapeutics; non-catecholamine sympathomimetic agents; and alpha and beta adrenergic blocking agents. |
| Unit-III — CNS and Peripheral Nervous System | Physiology and pharmacology of neurohormonal transmission in the CNS; pathophysiology and management of parkinsonism and other neurodegenerative disorders; preanaesthetic medication and the stages of anaesthesia; general anaesthetic agents; local anaesthetics and their screening; opioid receptors, enkephalins and endorphins; opioid analgesics and their antagonists; analgesics, antipyretics and anti-inflammatory agents; antidepressants; antipsychotics and lithium; sedatives and hypnotics; anti-anxiety drugs; centrally acting muscle relaxants and their screening methods; alcohols; CNS stimulants and cognition enhancers; drug abuse; and antiepileptic drugs. |
| Unit-IV — Cardiovascular System | Pathophysiology and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias; pathophysiology and treatment of cardiac failure; pathophysiology and treatment of ischaemic heart disease; antihypertensive drugs and the treatment of hypertension; and drugs for peripheral vascular disease. |
| Unit-V — Antimicrobial Agents | Introduction, mechanism of action and principles of antimicrobial therapy; sulphonamides; beta-lactam antibiotics; tetracyclines and chloramphenicol; aminoglycosides; macrolides; quinolones and the treatment of urinary tract infections; antiamoebic drugs; antimalarial agents; anti-tubercular drugs; anti-leprotic drugs; antifungal agents; antiviral agents; anthelmintics; antineoplastic agents; and miscellaneous antimicrobials. |
| Unit-VI — Endocrinology | Androgens and anabolic steroids; adrenal steroids, sex hormones and anti-fertility agents; hypothalamic and pituitary hormones; pancreatic hormones; anti-diabetic agents; thyroid and anti-thyroid drugs; calcium metabolism and drugs affecting bone mineralization; and drugs acting on the uterus. |
| Unit-VII — Renal System | Diuretics and antidiuretics. |
| Unit-VIII — Autacoids | Histamine and antihistaminics; 5-HT with its agonists and antagonists and the treatment of migraine; prostaglandins, leukotrienes and platelet activating factors; and ergot alkaloids. |
| Unit-IX — Respiratory System | Treatment of cough, bronchial asthma and COPD. |
| Unit-X — Gastrointestinal System | Treatment of acid peptic diseases; emetics and antiemetics; and drugs for constipation, diarrhoea and inflammatory bowel disease. |
| Unit-XI — Blood | Haematinics and erythropoietin; coagulants and anticoagulants, antiplatelets and thrombolytics; hypolipidemic drugs; and plasma expanders and the pharmacotherapy of shock. |
| Unit-XII — Miscellaneous Topics | Antineoplastic agents; immunotherapy; gene therapy; chelating agents; vitamins, vaccines, sera and immunoglobulin; dermatological pharmacology; and antiseptics and disinfectants. |
| Unit-XIII — Applied Pharmacology | Vasoactive peptides; pharmacoeconomics; pharmacogenetics; pharmacoepidemiology; drugs in sports and doping tests; pharmacogenomics; microdosing; alternatives to animal experiments; the role of biotechnology in recent drug development; the role of free radicals in health and disease; newer drug delivery systems; Nobel laureates in pharmacology; and pharmacovigilance. |
| Unit-XIV — Biochemical Pharmacology | Analytical methods in pharmacology and toxicology; the principles of identifying and quantifying substances by chromatography, spectrophotometry, flame photometry, spectrofluorophotometry, HPLC, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry; principles of immunological assays including radioimmunoassay and their importance; and tracer techniques using radioactive substances, with their measurement. |
| Unit-XV — Clinical Pharmacology | General principles of clinical pharmacology — dynamics, kinetics, adverse drug reactions and the factors modifying drug effects; clinical pharmacokinetics, the concentration-effect relationship and its parameters, target concentration strategies, plateau principles and population pharmacokinetics; therapeutic drug monitoring; ADR monitoring and prevention; bioavailability and bioequivalence studies; placebo; design and implementation of clinical trials; clinical drug development studies (Phase 1, 2, 3 and 4); drug therapy at the extremes of age — neonate, elderly, old; drug therapy in pregnancy and lactation; iatrogenic disorder; prescription auditing and the critical evaluation of research papers and promotional material; and the ethical and legal aspects of clinical trials and drug therapy. |
| Unit-XVI — Research Methodology | Keeping and breeding laboratory animals; regulatory guidelines (CPCSEA) and alternatives to animal experiments; drug development, preclinical and clinical; drug regulations; preclinical in vitro and in vivo work; bioassay and its importance; screening methods in pharmacology for evaluating drug activity on the ANS, the CNS (sedatives, hypnotics, psychotropics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, local anaesthetics, antiparkinsonian drugs, NSAIDs, opioids), respiratory system drugs, the CVS (anti-anginal, antihypertensive, antiarrhythmic and drugs used in CHF), diuretic screening, GIT drugs (peptic ulcer, emetics and anti-emetics, anti-diarrhoeal agents), oxytocin and tocolytics, and hormones (oral hypoglycaemics, screening of fertility and anti-fertility agents); acute, sub-acute and chronic toxicity studies in animals; protocol designing and thesis writing; and the writing of papers and reports and the review of scientific journals. |
| Unit-XVII — Biostatistics | Normal distribution and random numbers; mean, mode, median, standard deviation and standard error; Z test and P values; Student's t test, paired and unpaired, and the chi-square test; non-parametric tests for one, two and K sample problems; ANOVA; correlation, simple linear regression and multiple linear regression; and epidemiological statistics. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Forensic Medicine — 19 numbered topics, on pages 23 to 24 ↑
Nineteen numbered topics, and the split inside them is worth naming: entries 1 to 6 are law, procedure and identification, entries 7 to 14 are the injuries, deaths and forensic psychiatry, and entries 15 to 19 are toxicology.
Four statutes are named by the syllabus itself — the MTP Act 1971, the PCPNDT Act, the Mental Health Act 1987 and the Dangerous Drugs Act — and named laws are the part of a syllabus that is asked most literally.
| No. | Topic as the syllabus lists it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Law in relation to the medical man. |
| 2 | Legal procedure and inquest; the different types of courts and their powers; medico-legal reports; dying declaration and dying deposition; the medical witness; professional secrecy and privileged communication; professional and contributory negligence; warning notice and infamous conduct; vicarious liability; and consent. |
| 3 | Medico-legal autopsy, including decomposed and mutilated bodies, examination of the skeleton, and exhumation. |
| 4 | Death and post-mortem changes; modes of death; sudden death; the moment of death and the presumption of death. |
| 5 | Identification of the living and the dead — determination of race, sex and age and their medico-legal aspects — including fingerprints and DNA fingerprinting, anthropometry, scars, tattoo marks, occupational marks, intersex and teeth. |
| 6 | Examination of blood stains, seminal stains, hairs and fibre; the forensic science laboratory; and artefacts. |
| 7 | Violent asphyxial death including hanging, strangulation, throttling, suffocation, drowning, traumatic asphyxia and cafe coronary. |
| 8 | Thermal injuries including burns, scalds, cold and heat, electricity, lightning and radiation. |
| 9 | Mechanical injuries and their medico-legal aspects, including ante-mortem and post-mortem injury and the determination of the age of an injury. |
| 10 | Regional injuries including skull fracture, intracranial haemorrhages, cerebral concussion, contrecoup injury, spinal injury, and chest and abdominal injury. |
| 11 | Impotence and sterility; artificial insemination; virginity; signs of pregnancy and delivery and their medico-legal aspects. |
| 12 | Sexual offences and rape, including the recent changes in the law of rape; unnatural sexual offences and the various sexual perversions. |
| 13 | Natural and criminal abortion: the MTP Act 1971, the PCPNDT Act, the duty of a doctor in criminal abortion, and infanticide including live born, dead born and still born and the related tests. |
| 14 | Forensic psychiatry: delirium, delusion, hallucination, impulse, psychosis and neurosis; IQ; the Mental Health Act 1987; real and feigned mental illness; restraint of the mentally ill person; and the civil and criminal responsibility of the insane. |
| 15 | Forensic toxicology: general considerations; sale of poison with reference to the various acts and the Dangerous Drugs Act; classification of poisons; action of poison and its modifications; diagnosis of poisoning in the living and the dead; preservation of viscera; and the duties of a physician in a case of suspected poisoning. |
| 16 | Corrosive, non-metallic and metallic poisons and their medico-legal aspects, including the clinical picture, treatment and post-mortem findings. |
| 17 | Insecticides and weed killers; organic irritants including snake bite; and food poisons. |
| 18 | Somniferous poisons including opium and its derivatives; inebriant poisons including ethyl and methyl alcohol; deliriant poisons including dhatura, cannabis and cocaine; drug addiction and drug dependence; and the management of a drug addict. |
| 19 | Cardiac poisons — aconite and HCN; spinal poisons; and asphyxiants including CO, sewer gases and war gases. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Community Medicine — one 29-topic syllabus for four different posts, pages 24 to 33 ↑
This is the most important structural fact in the document for community medicine candidates, and it is easy to miss because it is spread over ten pages. The syllabus is printed four separate times, as 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D, for the Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor I/c UTHC/RTHC [Level-11] post, the Epidemiologist-cum-Assistant Professor post, the Statistician-cum-Assistant Professor post, and the Lady Medical Officer post.
We compared the four blocks character by character after stripping spacing and page footers. They are identical — the same twenty-nine topics in the same order, with no addition anywhere for the epidemiologist or the statistician post. One preparation covers all four papers, and that comparison is ours, not a claim the document makes about itself.
| No. | Topic as the syllabus lists it (same for 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D) |
|---|---|
| 1 | History, concepts and practice of community medicine; evolution of medicine and public health services; principles of preventive, social and community medicine; community diagnosis; Mendel's law, genetic diseases and genetic counselling. |
| 2 | Concepts of health and disease; dimensions of health and disease; determinants of health; ecology of health; indicators of health and disease; dynamics of disease transmission; the iceberg phenomenon; levels of prevention and intervention; and lifestyle diseases. |
| 3 | Social and behavioural sciences — sociology, social psychology and social anthropology: concepts of society and culture; family and community structure, its characteristics and functions; group dynamics; leadership patterns; social stratification; social change; urbanization and its problems; principles of learning; the process of communication; cultural factors in health and disease; social stress and deviant behaviour; medico-social work; hospital sociology; and the health problems of urban slums. |
| 4 | Introduction to biostatistics and health statistics; census and other sources of data; collection and presentation of data; measures of central tendency and of variability; elementary statistical analysis; tests of significance; sampling and sampling procedures; designing experimental and community based studies; scope, sources and uses of health data; testing of hypothesis; life table; correlation and regression analysis; and the types of research methodology and their importance in health. |
| 5 | Applied nutrition: principles of nutrition; nutritional requirements; balanced diets; deficiency diseases; nutritional assessment; ecology of malnutrition and approaches to controlling it; food toxins; food processing and preservation; nutritive value of commonly consumed foods; diet and disease; food additives, fortification and enrichment; national programmes on nutrition; nutrition monitoring and surveillance; and the Food Security Act. |
| 6 | Personal and environmental health; control of the physical and biological environment for prevention of disease and promotion of health; water, air, humidity, ventilation, light, radiation, noise and housing and their effect on health with preventive measures; the meteorological environment and measuring equipment; assessment of potable water. Disposal of wastes: types, methods of collection, storage and disposal; safe disposal of human excreta and municipal waste; camp sanitation; disposal of e-waste; global warming; and pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis in health care. |
| 7 | Disaster: definition, preparedness and response to natural disasters; types of disasters; response to disaster and triage; the National Disaster Management Authority; and the impact on health. |
| 8 | Classification and management of biomedical waste in hospital and the related legislation. |
| 9 | Health education: objectives, approaches, principles and methods; communication in health, its types and modes; counselling in health; and the GATHER approach and its application in health and disease. |
| 10 | Aims and uses of epidemiology; epidemiological approaches; rates and ratios; measurement of morbidity and mortality; epidemiological studies; association and causation; infectious disease epidemiology; disease transmission; principles and methods of disease control; investigation of epidemics; and IDSP. |
| 11 | Immunity: active and passive immunity and immunizing agents; history to recent developments; adverse events following vaccination; evaluation of vaccine coverage in the community; cold chain; and the National Immunization Schedule. |
| 12 | Concepts of screening for disease; uses of screening; types of screening; and the evaluation of a screening test. |
| 13 | Epidemiology of CVD, CHD, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancers, obesity, blindness and accidents; and the national programmes related to non-communicable disease. |
| 14 | Epidemiology and prevention of communicable disease: air borne, intestinal and arthropod borne infections; zoonotic disease; surface infections; STD and HIV/AIDS; emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; food poisoning; parasitic infestations; hospital acquired infection; criteria for disease eradication and elimination; and the national programmes for the various communicable diseases. |
| 15 | Maternal and child health problems; ante-natal, natal and post-natal care; social obstetrics; care of infants and children; low birth weight; infant feeding and weaning; growth and development; care of pre-school children; the under-five clinic; rights of a child; indicators of MCH care; social paediatrics; school health services; care of handicapped children; behavioural problems in children; child labour; ICDS; NHM; reproductive and child health and IMNCI; adolescent health; gender issues and women's empowerment; the PCPNDT Act; and PEM and malnutrition treatment centres. |
| 16 | Preventive geriatrics: health problems of the aged and remedial measures; actions towards healthy ageing; the National Policy on Older Persons; geriatric abuse; and benefits for senior citizens. |
| 17 | Demography: the demographic cycle, demographic variables and trends; world population trends; the population problem in India; social marketing programmes in health and family welfare; family welfare services — family planning, contraceptive methods, MTP and the approaches to family planning; the National Population Policy; evaluation of contraceptive methods; and fertility indicators. |
| 18 | Occupational health: physical, chemical, biological and psychological hazards; principles of prevention; industrial toxicology — lead, arsenic, chromium, mercury and gases such as sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and fluorine; ergonomics; occupational accidents; sickness absenteeism; legislation including the ESI Act; and the social security of women in industry. |
| 19 | Mental health: types of mental illness and their prevention; mental health services in India; alcoholism; drug dependence and addiction; and smoking hazards, prevention and legislation. |
| 20 | Principles of the administrative process: planning, management and evaluation; the various committees; health policy; operational research; health management functions; supervision as a management tool; PERT; health care financing; and management problems and their solutions. |
| 21 | The three tier system, and the centre and state health care systems. |
| 22 | National health programmes and policies, and public health legislation. |
| 23 | International and voluntary health agencies and their role in the health sector; global health security and the International Health Regulations; the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems; the public health aspects of international travellers; bio-terrorism; and the SDGs. |
| 24 | Uses of IT in community medicine, computer application and telemedicine. |
| 25 | Research methodology. |
| 26 | Principles of epidemiology. |
| 27 | Epidemiologic studies — descriptive, analytical and experimental. |
| 28 | Biostatistics: the scope and uses of biostatistics; collection, classification and presentation of statistical data; analysis and interpretation of data; obtaining information, computing indices (rates and ratios) and making comparisons; and applying statistical methods in the design of studies — choosing the appropriate sampling method and sample size, applying a suitable test of significance, and the use of statistical tables. |
| 29 | Association and causation. The syllabus closes with recent advances and developments in the discipline. |
General Medicine — 18 units, on pages 34 to 38 ↑
Eighteen units in Roman numerals, written as topic lists. Units II and III are both headed Infectious Diseases in the document — the first covers bacterial and fungal disease, the second viral, protozoal and parasitic disease, so treat them as one large area split across two units.
The last unit is not filler. Adult immunization, sports and travel medicine, research methodology and the ethics of clinical research, epigenetics, circadian biology and telomere diseases are all named there, and all of them are askable.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| I — Basics of Medicine | Decision making in clinical medicine; safety and quality of health care; promoting good health; ethical issues in clinical medicine; principles of clinical pharmacology; pharmacogenomics; therapeutics and good prescription; integrative health practices; information technology in health care; lifestyle diseases. |
| II — Infectious Diseases | Clinical syndromes of community acquired infections; health associated infections; diseases caused by Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria; mycobacterial diseases; fungal diseases and their treatment; spirochetal diseases; rickettsial diseases, chlamydia and mycoplasma; therapy for bacterial diseases; miscellaneous bacterial infections. |
| III — Infectious Diseases (continued) | Infection due to DNA virus, RNA virus and immunodeficiency virus; protozoal infection; helminthic infestation; arthropod and rodent borne diseases; principles of infectious disease; sexually transmitted disease; infections due to human immunodeficiency virus and other retroviruses; evaluation of pyrexia of unknown origin. |
| IV — Geriatric and Women's Health Care | Biology of ageing; medical disorders of pregnancy; palliative and end of life care; practice of family medicine; clinical problems associated with the ageing process; geriatric giants; disorders during adolescence; sarcopenic obesity; frailty in the elderly; women and leadership in medicine. |
| V — Disorders of the Cardiovascular System | Approach to the patient with cardiovascular disease; heart failure; valvular heart diseases; congenital heart diseases; peripheral vascular disease and hypertension; coronary heart disease; non-invasive cardiac imaging; bradyarrhythmias; tachyarrhythmias; cardiomyopathy and myocarditis. |
| VI — Respiratory System | Approach to the patient with respiratory disease; occupational and environmental lung diseases; COPD and asthma; interstitial lung diseases; diseases of the pleura and mediastinum; disorders of ventilation; sleep apnoea; lung transplant; diagnostic procedures in respiratory disease; hypersensitivity pneumonias; bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis. |
| VII — Critical Care Medicine | Approach to the patient with critical illness and the clinical procedures; acute respiratory distress syndrome; respiratory failure; mechanical ventilatory support; shock and its management; cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death; coma; hypertensive crisis; acid base disorder; fluid and electrolyte balance. |
| VIII — Disorders of the Kidney and Urinary Tract | Acute kidney injury; chronic kidney disease; dialysis; renal transplant; glomerular disease; tubulointerstitial disease; vascular injury to the kidney; diabetes insipidus; renal tubular acidosis; bone and mineral metabolism. |
| IX — Disorders of the GI System | Approach to GI and liver disease; GI endoscopy; disease of the stomach and oesophagus; disorders of absorption; inflammatory bowel diseases; irritable bowel syndrome; viral and toxic hepatitis; evaluation of liver function; alcoholic liver disease; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. |
| X — Rheumatology | The immune system in health and disease; anaphylaxis, urticaria and angioedema; autoimmune disorders; SLE and antiphospholipid syndrome; spondyloarthritides; vasculitis syndromes; inflammatory myopathies; scleroderma and related disorders; rheumatoid arthritis; disorders of joints and adjacent tissues. |
| XI — Endocrinology | Approach to endocrine disorders; disorders of the neurohypophysis; pituitary disorders; thyroid and parathyroid gland disorders; adrenal gland disorders; autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome; disorders of sex development; disorders of the male and female reproductive systems; menopause and postmenopausal hormone therapy. |
| XII — Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Syndrome | Pancreatitis, acute and chronic; obesity; metabolic syndrome; diabetes mellitus — diagnosis and classification; gestational diabetes mellitus; management and therapies of DM; complications of DM; lipoprotein metabolism; disorders of intermediary metabolism; hypoglycaemia. |
| XIII — Neurology I | Approach to diseases of the nervous system; neuroimaging; seizures and epilepsy; cerebrovascular accidents; migraine and other headaches; Alzheimer's disease and the dementias; Parkinson's disease; movement disorders; motor neuron diseases; multiple sclerosis. |
| XIV — Neurology II | Autonomic nervous system; diseases of the cranial nerves; diseases of the spinal cord; infection in neurology; peripheral neuropathies; neuromuscular junction disorders; muscle diseases; chronic fatigue syndrome; psychiatric disorders; drug and alcohol dependence. |
| XV — Haematology | Stem cells and transplant; hypoproliferative and nutritional anaemia; haemoglobinopathies and hereditary anaemia; bone marrow failure and myelodysplasia; polycythemia vera and myeloproliferative disorders; transfusion biology; coagulation disorders; arterial and venous thrombosis; antiplatelet, anticoagulant and fibrinolytic drugs; haemolytic anaemia. |
| XVI — Oncology | Acute and chronic leukemias; lymphomas; plasma cell disorders; oncology emergencies; principles of cancer therapies; solid tumours; paraneoplastic syndrome; carcinoma of unknown primary; cancer genetics. |
| XVII — Poisoning, Environmental and Genetic Diseases | Heavy metal poisoning and drug overdose; medical terrorism; snake bite; altitude illnesses; thermoregulatory disorders; foetal origin of adult diseases; organophosphorus, celphos and other poisoning; radiation hazards; the microbial genome and infectious diseases; the practice of genetics in clinical medicine. |
| XVIII — Recent Advances and Miscellaneous | Adult immunization; sports and travel medicine; diet in medical disorders; research methodology and the ethics of clinical research; exercise and yoga in health and disease; medical evaluation of surgical patients; the role of epigenetics in disease and treatment; the role of circadian biology in health and disease; emerging neurotherapeutic technologies; telomere diseases and other recent advances. |
Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases — 27 units, on pages 38 to 41 ↑
Twenty-seven units, and one of them carries most of the weight: Unit-XV on tuberculosis is longer than any other unit in this discipline and names the diagnostics, the drug-resistant forms, the special situations and the national programme by name.
The document prints Unit-XIX as "Unti-XIX". That is a typographical slip in the original, not a missing unit — the numbering runs I to XXVII without a gap.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | History of pulmonary medicine and tuberculosis, with emphasis on the Indian contribution. |
| Unit-II | Development (embryology), growth and structure of the normal lung; physiological principles of normal lung function; the lungs in different physiological states such as exercise, pregnancy, ageing, high altitude and diving; congenital anomalies of the lung. |
| Unit-III | Immunology, microbiology and the pharmacological aspects of respiratory disease; pharmacovigilance. |
| Unit-IV | Approach to a patient with respiratory symptoms and signs, and the diagnostic procedures in respiratory disorders — radiographic imaging, interventional radiology, nuclear imaging, pulmonary function testing, arterial blood gas analysis, bronchoscopy and thoracoscopy, EBUS, FeNO test, bronchoprovocation test and aerosol therapy. |
| Unit-V — Pulmonary infections | Acute and chronic respiratory tract infections including viral pneumonia (swine flu); community and hospital acquired pneumonia; pneumonia in immunocompromised patients; non-resolving pneumonia; lung abscess; bronchiectasis. |
| Unit-VI — Obstructive airway disease | Chronic obstructive airway disease; bronchial asthma; bronchiolitis; cystic fibrosis; bullous disease of the lung. |
| Unit-VII — Tumours of the lungs | Neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases of the lung; solitary pulmonary nodule; pleural mesothelioma. |
| Unit-VIII — Smoking | Practices, epidemiology, ill effects and cessation. |
| Unit-IX — Diffuse Interstitial Lung Diseases | Idiopathic and non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. |
| Unit-X | Occupational pulmonary disorders including organic and inorganic dust exposure; air pollution including indoor air pollution; health impacts of global warming. |
| Unit-XI | Drug induced pulmonary disorders including radiation induced injury; drug induced respiratory emergencies. |
| Unit-XII — Pulmonary circulatory disorders | Pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale; acute respiratory distress syndrome; pulmonary thromboembolic disease and infarction; pulmonary arterio-venous malformations. |
| Unit-XIII — Immunological disorders | Sarcoidosis; hypersensitivity pneumonitis; eosinophilic lung disorders; pulmonary vasculitic disorders; connective tissue diseases involving the respiratory system. |
| Unit-XIV — Alveolar diseases | Alveolar haemorrhage, primary and secondary; pulmonary alveolar proteinosis; alveolar microlithiasis. |
| Unit-XV — Tuberculosis | Immunology and etiopathogenesis; diagnostic methods, conventional and newer (CBNAAT, LPA, MGIT, BACTEC, MODS); differential diagnosis; management of pulmonary tuberculosis; complications and their management; tuberculosis in children and geriatric tuberculosis; miliary and disseminated tuberculosis; mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT); extra-pulmonary tuberculosis of lymph node, pleura, pericardium, genitourinary tract, intestine, bone and joint, CNS and skin; HIV and TB; prevention and management of MDR and XDR tuberculosis; diabetes mellitus and TB; pneumoconiosis and TB; treatment of TB in special situations including MDR; control of tuberculosis including RNTCP, DOTS and DOTS PLUS; BCG vaccination and Mantoux testing; the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP); and tuberculosis notification. |
| Unit-XVI — Diseases of the mediastinum | Developmental disorders; benign and malignant, primary and secondary neoplasms. |
| Unit-XVII — Disorders of the pleura | Pleural dynamics and effusion; non-neoplastic and neoplastic pleural disease; pneumothorax, haemothorax and chylothorax; pyothorax and broncho-pleural fistula; management of pleural disease. |
| Unit-XVIII — Critical care in pulmonary medicine | Principles of critical care medicine; non-invasive ventilation; invasive mechanical ventilatory support. |
| Unit-XIX | Extrapulmonary manifestations of pulmonary diseases. |
| Unit-XX | Surgical aspects of respiratory disease including VATS and pleuroscopy, and the pre- and post-operative evaluation of the thoracic surgical patient. |
| Unit-XXI | Depositional and infiltrative disorders; histiocytosis X; lymphangioleiomyomatosis; inborn errors of metabolism pertaining to the lungs. |
| Unit-XXII — Sleep-related pulmonary diseases | Physiology of sleep; diagnostic polysomnography; management of obstructive sleep apnoea; other sleep-disordered breathing syndromes. |
| Unit-XXIII | Diseases of the diaphragm. |
| Unit-XXIV | Disorders of the chest wall. |
| Unit-XXV | Lung transplantation. |
| Unit-XXVI | Preventive pulmonology: prevention of airborne infection and vaccination in pulmonary disease. |
| Unit-XXVII | Current trends and recent advancement in tuberculosis and respiratory medicine, including laser therapy, coiling treatment of emphysema, cryobiopsy, bronchial thermoplasty, bronchial artery embolisation, the pulmonary rehabilitation programme, and palliative care in lung malignancy and ILD. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy — 14 units, on pages 41 to 43 ↑
Fourteen units written as long comma-separated topic strings rather than bullets, which makes it easy to skim past an entry. Leprosy, syphilis and congenital syphilis and the other sexually transmitted bacterial diseases sit inside Unit-III, alongside the viral, fungal and parasitic infections.
Unit-XIV is entirely aesthetic and procedural dermatology — fillers, botulinum toxin, chemical peels, lasers and energy-based devices, PRP and PRFM — and it is the unit most often left out of a classical dermatology revision.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | History, structure and function of the skin; histopathology of the skin and its general principles; diagnosis of skin disease; epidemiology of skin disease; genetics and the skin; inflammation, immunology and allergy; photobiology; cutaneous response to injury and wound healing; psychological and social impact of long-term dermatological conditions; adverse immunological reactions to drugs; topical drug delivery; clinical pharmacology. |
| Unit-II | Principles of the holistic management of skin disease; principles of measurement and assessment in dermatology; principles of evidence-based dermatology; principles of topical therapy, systemic therapy, skin surgery, phototherapy, photodynamic therapy, cutaneous laser therapy and radiotherapy. |
| Unit-III | Viral infections; bacterial infections; mycobacterial infections; leprosy; syphilis and congenital syphilis; other sexually transmitted bacterial diseases; HIV and the skin; fungal infections; parasitic diseases; arthropods. |
| Unit-IV | Psoriasis and related disorders; pityriasis rubra pilaris; lichen planus and lichenoid disorders; graft-versus-host disease; eczematous disorders; seborrhoeic dermatitis; atopic eczema; urticaria; recurrent angio-oedema without weals; urticarial vasculitis; autoinflammatory diseases presenting in the skin; mastocytosis; reactive inflammatory erythemas; Adamantiades-Behcet disease; neutrophilic dermatoses; immunobullous diseases; lupus erythematosus; antiphospholipid syndrome; dermatomyositis; mixed connective tissue disease; dermatological manifestations of rheumatoid disease; systemic sclerosis; morphoea and allied scarring and sclerosing inflammatory dermatoses. |
| Unit-V | Cutaneous amyloidoses; cutaneous mucinoses; cutaneous porphyrias; calcification of the skin and subcutaneous tissue; xanthomas and abnormalities of lipid metabolism and storage; nutritional disorders affecting the skin; skin disorders in diabetes mellitus. |
| Unit-VI | Inherited disorders of cornification; inherited acantholytic disorders; ectodermal dysplasias; inherited hair disorders; genetic defects of nails and nail growth; genetic disorders of pigmentation; genetic blistering diseases; genetic disorders of collagen, elastin and dermal matrix; disorders affecting cutaneous vasculature; genetic disorders of adipose tissue; congenital naevi and other developmental abnormalities affecting the skin; chromosomal disorders; poikiloderma syndromes; DNA repair disorders with cutaneous features; syndromes with premature ageing; hamartoneoplastic syndromes; inherited metabolic diseases; inherited immunodeficiency. |
| Unit-VII | Pruritus, prurigo and lichen simplex; mucocutaneous pain syndromes; neurological conditions affecting the skin; psychodermatology and psychocutaneous disease. |
| Unit-VIII | Acquired disorders of epidermal keratinization; acquired pigmentary disorders; acquired disorders of hair; acne; rosacea; hidradenitis suppurativa; other acquired disorders of the pilosebaceous unit; disorders of the sweat glands; acquired disorders of the nails and nail unit; acquired disorders of dermal connective tissue; granulomatous disorders of the skin; sarcoidosis; panniculitis; other acquired disorders of subcutaneous fat. |
| Unit-IX | Purpura; cutaneous vasculitis; dermatoses resulting from disorders of the veins and arteries; ulceration resulting from disorders of the veins and arteries; disorders of the lymphatic vessels; flushing and blushing. |
| Unit-X | Dermatoses of the scalp; of the external ear; of the eye, eyelids and eyebrows; of the oral cavity and lips; of the male genitalia; of the female genitalia; of perineal and perianal skin; cutaneous complications of stomas and fistulae; dermatoses of pregnancy; dermatoses of the neonate; dermatoses and haemangiomas of infancy. |
| Unit-XI | Benign and severe cutaneous adverse reactions to drugs; cutaneous side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; dermatoses induced by illicit drugs; dermatological manifestations of metal poisoning; mechanical injury to the skin; pressure injury and pressure ulcers; cutaneous reactions to cold and heat; burns and heat injury; cutaneous photosensitivity diseases; allergic contact dermatitis; irritant contact dermatitis; occupational dermatology; stings and bites. |
| Unit-XII | Benign melanocytic proliferations and melanocytic naevi; benign keratinocytic acanthomas and proliferations; cutaneous cysts; lymphocytic infiltrates; cutaneous histiocytoses; soft-tissue tumours and tumour-like conditions; tumours of skin appendages; Kaposi sarcoma; cutaneous lymphomas; basal cell carcinoma; squamous cell carcinoma and its precursors; melanoma with its clinicopathology, surgery and systemic treatment; dermoscopy of melanoma and naevi; Merkel cell carcinoma; skin cancer in the immunocompromised patient. |
| Unit-XIII | Cutaneous markers of internal malignancy; the skin and disorders of the haematopoietic and immune systems; the skin and endocrine disorders; the skin and disorders of the heart, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the kidney and urinary tract, and the musculoskeletal system. |
| Unit-XIV | Skin ageing; cosmeceuticals; soft tissue augmentation (fillers); aesthetic uses of botulinum toxins; chemical peels; lasers and energy-based devices; platelet rich plasma (PRP) and PRFM; autoinoculation. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Psychiatry — 15 units, on pages 43 to 46 ↑
Fifteen units. Two of them are the heaviest by a distance: Unit-XI, which lists the psychopharmacology drug by drug and named class by named class, and Units XII and XIII, which carry the whole of child psychiatry and its treatment.
The classification unit is small but decisive — the syllabus names DSM-V, ICD-10 and ICD-11 in draft, so the differences between those systems are fair game.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Human development through the life cycle; death, dying and bereavement; the concept of normality and the evolving concepts of mind. The brain and behaviour: functional and behavioural neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and neurochemistry, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, psychoneuroendocrinology, psychoneuroimmunology, chronobiology and neurogenetics. Contributions of the psychosocial sciences: Jean Piaget, attachment theory, learning theory, aggression, sociology and ethology, anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry, memory, epidemiology, biostatistics and research methodology; clinical neuropsychological testing. Theories of personality and psychopathology: Sigmund Freud and classic psychoanalysis, Erik Erikson, and the schools derived from psychoanalysis and psychology. |
| Unit-II | Clinical examination of the psychiatric patient; signs and symptoms in psychiatry; classification in psychiatry — DSM-V, ICD-10 and ICD-11 (draft). |
| Unit-III | Delirium, dementia, amnestic and other cognitive disorders; mental disorders due to a general medical condition; cognitive disorders introduction and overview; and substance-related disorders with their introduction and overview. |
| Unit-IV | Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: the concept of schizophrenia and the scope of the problem, genetics, environmental epidemiology, developmental models, neuroimaging, and the link between neuropsychiatric manifestations and the neurobiology and neuropathology of schizophrenia; clinical features and psychopathology; psychosocial, somatic, rehabilitation and integrative treatment; functional outcomes; schizophrenia spectrum pathology and treatment; other psychotic disorders — acute and transient psychotic disorders, brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder, delusional disorder and shared psychotic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, postpartum psychosis, culture-bound syndromes with psychotic features and psychosis NOS — and their treatment; and special issues in early detection and intervention. |
| Unit-V | Mood disorders: history, conceptual overview, epidemiology, genetics, neurobiology, intrapsychic and interpersonal aspects, clinical features; and the management of depression, mania and bipolar disorders, with psychotherapy. |
| Unit-VI | Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, agoraphobia, phobias, OCD, PTSD, acute stress disorder and GAD; somatoform disorders; factitious disorders; dissociative disorders. |
| Unit-VII | Normal human sexuality and sexual and gender identity disorders; eating disorders; sleep disorders; impulse-control disorders; adjustment disorders. |
| Unit-VIII | Personality disorders. Psychological factors affecting medical conditions: history of psychosomatic medicine, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine and metabolic disorders, psychocutaneous and musculoskeletal disorders, stress and psychiatry, psycho-oncology, consultation-liaison psychiatry. Additional conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention: malingering, adult antisocial behaviour, criminality and violence, borderline intellectual functioning and academic problems. |
| Unit-IX | Culture-bound syndromes. Special areas of interest: psychiatry and reproductive medicine, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, genetic counselling, end-of-life and palliative care, death, dying and bereavement, physical and sexual abuse of adults, survivors of torture, alternative and complementary health practices, military and disaster psychiatry, famous named cases in psychiatry, and relational problems. |
| Unit-X | Psychiatric emergencies: suicide and the other psychiatric emergencies. |
| Unit-XI | Psychotherapies and biological therapies: general principles of psychopharmacology, pharmacokinetics and drug interactions, the drug development and approval process; medication-induced movement disorders; antihistamines; barbiturates and similarly acting substances; benzodiazepine receptor agonists and antagonists; bupropion; buspirone; calcium channel inhibitors; cholinesterase inhibitors; dopamine receptor antagonists (typical antipsychotics); lithium; mirtazapine; monoamine oxidase inhibitors; nefazodone; opioid receptor agonists — methadone, levomethadyl and buprenorphine; opioid receptor antagonists — naltrexone and nalmefene; SNRIs; SSRIs; serotonin-dopamine antagonists (atypical or second-generation antipsychotics); sympathomimetics and dopamine receptor agonists; thyroid hormones; trazodone; tricyclics and tetracyclics; electroconvulsive therapy; neurosurgical treatments and deep brain stimulation; other pharmacological and biological therapies; drug augmentation; and reproductive hormonal therapy in theory and practice. |
| Unit-XII | Child psychiatry: introduction and overview, normal child development, normal adolescence, and the psychiatric examination of the infant, child and adolescent; mental retardation; learning disorders; pervasive developmental disorders; attention-deficit disorders; disruptive behaviour disorders; feeding and eating disorders of infancy and early childhood; tic disorders; elimination disorders; other disorders of infancy, childhood and adolescence; mood disorders in children and adolescents; anxiety disorders in children; early-onset schizophrenia. |
| Unit-XIII | Child psychiatric treatment: individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, short-term psychotherapies, cognitive behavioural psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, family therapy, paediatric psychopharmacology, partial hospital and ambulatory behavioural health services, residential and inpatient treatment, and community-based treatment. Child psychiatry special areas of interest: psychiatric aspects of day care, adoption and foster care, child maltreatment, children's reaction to illness and hospitalization, psychiatric sequelae of HIV and AIDS, child or adolescent antisocial behaviour, dissociative disorders, identity problem and borderline disorders, adolescent substance abuse, forensic psychiatry, ethical issues, school consultation, prevention of psychiatric disorders, neuroimaging, child mental health services research, and the impact of terrorism on children. |
| Unit-XIV | Adulthood and geriatric psychiatry. |
| Unit-XV | Hospital and community psychiatry; psychiatric education; ethics and forensic psychiatry; psychiatry past and future — behavioural addiction and molecular psychiatry. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Paediatrics — 20 topics with about 250 named sub-topics, pages 46 to 52 ↑
Paediatrics is written differently from the rest of the document: twenty numbered topics, each broken into individually numbered sub-topics, which together come to roughly two hundred and fifty named entries. That is a gift for a candidate, because the syllabus itself has already done the checklist work.
Neonatology alone carries thirty-one numbered sub-topics and the respiratory topic twenty-seven, so those two are where the paper's weight visibly sits.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Growth and Development | Principles of growth and development; normal growth and development in childhood and adolescence; assessment of gestational age; growth patterns; growth charts; Mamta Card; asymmetric growth; skeletal dysplasia; developmental delay and its assessment; assessment of age; sexual maturation and its disturbance; adolescent problems. |
| 2 — Neonatology | Perinatal care; care in the labour room; neonatal resuscitation; prematurity; the normal newborn; the high risk newborn; care in hospital and follow up after discharge; newborn screening; persistent pulmonary hypertension; oxygen therapy, HFNC and CPAP; neonatal ventilation; common transient phenomena; low birth weight and SGA; newborn feeding and parenteral nutrition; human milk banking; respiratory distress; apnea; antenatal risk factors and their impact on foetal outcome; antenatal diagnosis and foetal therapy; infections; neonatal jaundice; neurologic disorders; thermoregulation and its disorders including kangaroo mother care; anaemia and bleeding disorders; gastrointestinal disorders; congenital malformations; inborn errors of metabolism and newborn screening; neonatal seizures; developmentally supportive care; fluid and electrolyte imbalance in the newborn; acute life threatening events and SIDS. |
| 3 — Nutrition | Maternal health and its impact on the health of the child; infant and young child nutrition; MAA Programme; complementary feeding; protein energy malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition; adolescent nutrition; nutritional management of systemic illness (celiac disease, hepatobiliary disorders, nephrotic syndrome); nutrition for the low birth weight infant; early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding; vitamin deficiency disorders; micronutrient deficiency; obesity and metabolic syndromes; parenteral and enteral nutrition in neonates and children; hyperlipidemia in children. |
| 4 — Cardiovascular | Foetal circulation; antenatal development of the CVS; congenital heart diseases, cyanotic and acyanotic; infective endocarditis; diseases of the myocardium (cardiomyopathy, myocarditis); rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease; arrhythmia; diseases of the pericardium; systemic hypertension; heart failure and its management; basics of ECG; echocardiography. |
| 5 — Respiratory | Congenital and acquired disorders of the nose; tonsils and adenoids; congenital anomalies of the upper and lower respiratory tract; foreign body in larynx, trachea and bronchus; neoplasm of larynx and trachea; bronchitis; aspiration pneumonia; acute pneumonia; suppurative lung disease; atelectasis; emphysema and hyper-inflation; pulmonary edema; infections of the upper respiratory tract; obstructive sleep apnea; acute inflammatory upper airway obstruction; subglottic stenosis, acute and chronic; bronchiolitis; GER; recurrent and interstitial pneumonia; lung cysts; bronchial asthma; bronchiectasis; pleural effusion; mediastinal mass; pulmonary leaks; cystic fibrosis; pulmonary function test. |
| 6 — Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease | Disease of the oral cavity; disorders of deglutition and oesophagus; H. pylori infection and peptic ulcer disease; malabsorption syndrome and celiac disease; irritable bowel syndrome; hepatitis; chronic liver disease; cirrhosis and portal hypertension; peptic ulcer disease; foreign body of oesophagus and stomach; intestinal obstruction; acute, persistent and chronic diarrhoea; inflammatory bowel disease; hepatic failure; Wilson's disease; metabolic diseases of the liver; liver transplant; protein losing enteropathy; infantile cholestasis; liver abscess; portal hypertension. |
| 7 — Nephrologic and Urologic Disorders | Acute and chronic glomerulonephritis; hemolytic uremic syndrome; VUR and renal scarring; renal tubular disorders; congenital and hereditary renal disorders; posterior urethral valves; nephrotic syndrome; urinary tract infection; undescended testes; renal involvement in systemic diseases; renal and bladder stones; hydronephrosis and voiding dysfunction; Wilms tumour; renal transplant; acute and chronic renal failure; peritoneal dialysis, haemodialysis and continuous renal replacement therapy. |
| 8 — Neurologic Disorders | Seizure and non-seizure paroxysmal events; meningitis; brain abscess; acute encephalitis and febrile encephalopathies; neurocysticercosis and other neuroinfestation; paediatric stroke; neurometabolic and neurodegenerative disorders; neuromuscular disorders; learning disabilities; acute flaccid paralysis and AFP surveillance; movement disorders of childhood; malformations; epilepsy and the epileptic syndromes of childhood; coma; Guillain-Barre syndrome; cerebral palsy; mental retardation; ataxia; CNS tumours; traumatic brain and spinal cord injury; acquired acute and chronic demyelinating disorders of the nervous system; hydrocephalus; neuroimaging; neuro-electrophysiology (EEG, EMG, nerve conduction study, evoked potentials). |
| 9 — Haematology and Oncology | Deficiency anaemias; aplastic anaemia; thrombocytopenia; blood component therapy; bone marrow and stem cell transplant; myelodysplastic syndrome; Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma; hypercoagulable states; haemolytic anaemias; pancytopenia; transfusion related infections; acute and chronic leukemia; Hodgkin disease; neuroblastoma; febrile neutropenia; disorders of haemostasis; flow cytometry; solid tumours of childhood. |
| 10 — Endocrinology | Hypopituitarism and hyperpituitarism; pubertal disorders; adrenal insufficiency; adrenogenital syndromes; hypoglycaemia; gonadal dysfunction and intersexuality; diabetes insipidus; hypo- and hyper-thyroidism; Cushing's syndrome; short stature; obesity; diabetes mellitus. |
| 11 — Infections | Bacterial infections; fungal infections; rickettsial infections; protozoal and parasitic infections; HIV; control of epidemics and infection prevention; viral infections; mycoplasma; tuberculosis; nosocomial infection; childhood immunization; biomedical waste. |
| 12 — Emergency and Critical Care | Emergency care of shock; respiratory failure; status epilepticus; fluid and electrolyte disturbances and their therapy; poisoning; scorpion and snake bites; cardio-respiratory arrest; acute renal failure; acute severe asthma; acid base disturbances; accidents; ventilation, invasive and non-invasive. |
| 13 — Immunology and Rheumatology | Arthritis, acute and chronic; T and B cell disorders; connective tissue disorders; immuno-deficiency syndromes; paediatric autoimmune disorders. |
| 14 — ENT | Acute and chronic otitis media; post-diphtheritic palatal palsy; acute and chronic tonsillitis and adenoids; foreign body; conductive and sensorineural hearing loss; allergic rhinitis and sinusitis; cochlear implant; assessment of hearing. |
| 15 — Skin Diseases | Exanthematous illnesses; pigment disorders; pyogenic infections; Stevens-Johnson syndrome; seborrheic dermatitis; urticaria; ichthyosis; vascular lesions; vesicobullous disorders; fungal and parasitic disease; eczema; drug rash; alopecia. |
| 16 — Eye Problems | Refraction and accommodation; night blindness; strabismus; retinopathy of prematurity; optic atrophy; partial or total loss of vision and cataract; chorioretinitis; conjunctival and corneal disorders; retinoblastoma; papilledema; cataract; amaurosis. |
| 17 — Behavioral and Developmental Disorders | Rumination; enuresis; sleep disorders; breath holding spells; mood disorders; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; pica; encopresis; habit disorders; anxiety disorders; temper tantrums; pervasive development disorders and autistic development disorders. |
| 18 — Social Pediatrics | National health programmes related to child health; child labour; disability and rehabilitation; the national policy on child health and population; child abuse and neglect; adoption; rights of the child; juvenile delinquency; the IMS Act; the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative; the breast feeding policy; ICDS. |
| 19 — Genetics | Principles of inheritance; chromosomal disorders; multifactorial and polygenic disorders; prenatal diagnosis; pedigree drawing; single gene disorders; genetic diagnosis; molecular genetics. |
| 20 — Orthopedics | Major congenital orthopaedic deformities; bone and joint infections, pyogenic and tubercular; rickets; common bone tumours. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Child Psychologist — six papers and 78 units, on pages 52 to 62 ↑
This is the longest single entry in the document and the one most likely to be under-estimated. The Child Psychologist syllabus is not one list: it is six separate bodies of knowledge — Psychosocial Foundations of Behavior (with a Part A and a Part B on psychopathology), Biological Foundations of Behavior (with a Part A on the anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the CNS and a Part B on neuropsychology), Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Counseling, Behavioral Medicine, and Statistics.
Counted from the document, that comes to 78 units across ten pages. The statistics section alone runs to twelve units and reaches multivariate analysis and sample size estimation, which is a heavier statistical demand than most clinical papers in this syllabus make.
| Unit — Psychosocial Foundations of Behavior — Part A and Part B (Psychopathology) | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Introduction: overview of the profession and practice; history and growth; professional role and functions; current issues and trends; areas of specialization; ethical and legal issues; code of conduct. |
| Unit-II | Mental health and illness: mental health care past and present; stigma and attitude towards mental illness; the concept of mental health and illness; the psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive, humanistic, existential and biological models. |
| Unit-III | Epidemiology: studies in the Indian context; tools available and standardized for epidemiological surveys; socio-cultural correlates of mental illness; religion and mental health; psychological well-being and quality of life — measures and influencing factors. |
| Unit-IV | Self and relationships: self-concept, self-image, self-perception and self-regulation in mental health and illness; learned helplessness and attribution theories; social skill model; interpersonal and communication models of mental illness; stress diathesis model, resilience, coping and social support. |
| Unit-V | Family influences: early deprivation and trauma; neglect and abuse; attachment; separation; inadequate parenting styles; marital discord and divorce; maladaptive peer relationships; communication style; family burden; emotional adaptation; expressed emotions and relapse. |
| Unit-VI | Societal influences: discrimination by race, gender and ethnicity; social class and structure, poverty and unemployment; prejudice, social change and uncertainty; crime and delinquency; social tension and violence; urban stressors; torture and terrorism; culture shock; migration; religion and gender related issues with reference to India. |
| Unit-VII | Disability: definition and classification; psychosocial models of disability; impact, needs and problems; issues in the assessment and certification of disability — areas and measures. |
| Unit-VIII | Rehabilitation: approaches; interventions in the rehabilitation process; models of adaptation to disability; family and caregiver issues; rights of the mentally ill; empowerment issues; support to recovery. |
| Unit-IX | Policies and Acts: rehabilitation policies and Acts; assistance, concessions, social benefits and support from government and voluntary organizations; contemporary challenges; rehabilitation ethics and the professional code of conduct. |
| Unit-X | Introduction to psychopathology: definition; concepts of normality and abnormality; clinical criteria of abnormality; dimensional versus categorical and prototype models; classification and taxonomies, their reliability and utility; the classificatory systems in use with their advantages and limitations. |
| Unit-XI | Signs and symptoms: disorders of consciousness, attention, motor behaviour, orientation, experience of self, speech, thought, perception, emotion and memory. |
| Unit-XII | Psychological theories: psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive, humanistic, interpersonal, psychosocial and other prominent models of the principal clinical disorders — anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, somatoform, dissociative, adjustment, sexual, substance use, personality, suicide, childhood and adolescence, psychotic, mood and culture-specific disorders. |
| Unit-XIII | Indian thoughts: the concept of mental health and illness; nosology and taxonomy of mental illness; social identity and stratification (Varnashrama Vyavastha); the concepts of cognition, emotion, personality and motivation and their disorders. |
| Unit — Biological Foundations of Behavior — Part A (Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry of the CNS) and Part B (Neuropsychology) | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Anatomy of the brain: major anatomical subdivisions; surface anatomy and interior structures of cortical and sub-cortical regions; anatomical connectivity between regions; blood supply to the brain and the CSF system; cytoarchitecture and modular organization. |
| Unit-II | Structure and functions of cells: cells of the nervous system (neurons, supporting cells, blood-brain barrier); communication within a neuron (membrane potential, action potential); communication between neurons (neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and hormones). |
| Unit-III | Biochemistry of the brain: biochemical and metabolic aspects; medical genetics; structure and function of chromosomes; molecular methods in genetics; genetic variation; population genetics; single-gene inheritance; cytogenetic abnormalities; multifactorial inheritance; biochemistry of genetic diseases. |
| Unit-IV | Neurobiology of sensory and motor systems: organization of the sensory system — receptors, relay neurons, thalamus and cortical processing of different sensations; the principal motor mechanisms of the periphery (muscle spindle), thalamus, basal ganglia, brainstem, cerebellum and cerebral cortex. |
| Unit-V | Regulation of the internal environment: the role of the limbic, autonomic and neuroendocrine systems; the reticular formation and the other neural substrates that regulate sleep and wakefulness. |
| Unit-VI | Neurobiology of behaviour: the neurobiological aspects of drives, motivation, hunger, thirst, sex, emotions, learning and memory. |
| Unit-VII | Psychopharmacology: principles (pharmacokinetics, drug effectiveness, effect of repeated administration); sites of drug action — production, storage, release, receptors, reuptake and destruction; neurotransmitters and neuromodulators (acetylcholine, monoamines, amino acids, peptides, lipids). |
| Unit-VIII | Neuropsychology introduction: the relationship between brain structure and function; the rise of neuropsychology as a distinct discipline; the logic of cerebral organization; localization and lateralization of functions; the approaches and methodologies of clinical and cognitive neuropsychologists. |
| Unit-IX | Frontal lobe syndrome: disturbances of regulatory functions; attentional processes; emotions; memory and intellectual activity; language and motor functions. |
| Unit-X | Temporal lobe syndrome: the special senses — hearing, vestibular and integrative functions; disturbances in learning and memory; language, emotions, time perception and consciousness. |
| Unit-XI | Parietal and occipital lobe syndromes: disturbances in sensory function and body schema perception; agnosias and apraxias; disturbances in visual space perception; colour perception; writing and reading ability. |
| Unit-XII | Neuropsychological profile of neurological and psychiatric conditions: Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, thalamic degenerative disease, multiple sclerosis, cortical and subcortical dementias, Alzheimer's dementia, AIDS dementia complex, and the principal psychiatric syndromes — psychosis, mood disorders, suicide, anxiety disorders and other emotional and behavioural syndromes. |
| Unit-XIII | Functional human brain mapping: QEEG, EP and ERP, PET, SPECT, fMRI. |
| Unit-XIV | Neuropsychological assessment: introduction, principles, relevance, scope and indications, and the issues involved in the neuropsychological assessment of children. |
| Unit-XV | Neuropsychological rehabilitation: principles, objectives and methods of neuro-rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury and brain disease; the scope of computer-based retraining, neurofeedback and cognitive aids. |
| Unit — Psychiatry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Introduction: approach to clinical interviewing and diagnosis; case history; mental status examination; organization and presentation of psychiatric information; diagnostic formulation; the classificatory system in use. |
| Unit-II | Psychoses: schizophrenia, affective disorders, delusional disorders and other psychotic disorders — types, clinical features, etiology and management. |
| Unit-III | Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders — types, clinical features, etiology and management. |
| Unit-IV | Disorders of personality and behaviour: specific personality disorders; mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use; habit and impulse disorders; sexual disorders and dysfunctions — types, clinical features, etiology and management. |
| Unit-V | Organic mental disorders: dementia, delirium and related conditions with neurological and systemic disorders — types, clinical features, etiology and management. |
| Unit-VI | Behavioural, emotional and developmental disorders of childhood and adolescence — types, clinical features, etiology and management. |
| Unit-VII | Mental retardation: classification, etiology and management. |
| Unit-VIII | Neurobiology of mental disorders: neurobiological theories of psychosis, mood disorders, suicide, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders and other emotional and behavioural syndromes. |
| Unit-IX | Therapeutic approaches: drugs, ECT, psychosurgery, psychotherapy and behaviour therapy; preventive and rehabilitative strategies — half-way home, sheltered workshop, day care and institutionalization. |
| Unit-X | Consultation-liaison psychiatry: psychiatric consultation in the general hospital and in the primary care setting. |
| Unit — Psychotherapy and Counseling | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Introduction to psychotherapy: definitions, objectives, training of professional therapists; ethical and legal issues; rights and responsibilities; consent and assent in the case of minors; planning and recording of sessions; structuring and goal setting; pre- and post-assessment; the practice of evidence-based therapies. |
| Unit-II | Therapeutic relationship: client and therapist characteristics; illness, technique and the other factors that influence the relationship. |
| Unit-III | Interviewing: objectives, techniques and types; structured and unstructured interviews; interviewing micro skills, open-ended questions, clarification, reflection, facilitation and confrontation; silences; verbal and non-verbal components. |
| Unit-IV | Affective psychotherapies: origin, basis, formulation, procedures, techniques, stages, process, outcome, indications and current research in psychodynamic, brief, humanistic, existential, gestalt, person-centered, Adlerian, transactional analysis, reality, supportive, clinical hypnotherapy, play therapy, psychodrama, and oriental approaches such as yoga, meditation, shavasana, pranic healing, reiki and tai chi. |
| Unit-V | Behaviour therapies: origin, foundations, principles and methodology, criticisms, empirical status, behavioural assessment, formulation and treatment goals; desensitization (imaginal, in-vivo, enriched, assisted); extinction (graded exposure, flooding and response prevention, implosion, covert extinction, negative practice, stimulus satiation); skill training (assertiveness training, modeling, behavioural rehearsal); operant procedures (token economy, contingency management); aversion procedures; self-control procedures (thought stop, paradoxical intention); biofeedback (EMG, GSR, EEG, temperature, EKG); behavioural counselling; group behavioural approaches; behavioural family and marital therapies. |
| Unit-VI | Cognitive therapies: the cognitive model, principles and assumptions, techniques, indications and current status of rational emotive behaviour therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, cognitive analytic therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, problem-solving therapy, mindfulness based cognitive therapy, schema focused therapy, cognitive restructuring and the other principal models. |
| Unit-VII | Systemic therapies: origin, theoretical models, formulation, procedures, techniques, stages, process, outcome, indications and current research in family therapy, marital therapy, group therapy, sex therapy, interpersonal therapy and other prominent therapies. |
| Unit-VIII | Physiological therapies: origin, basis, formulation, procedures, techniques, stages, process, outcome, indications and current status of progressive muscular relaxation, autogenic training, biofeedback, eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing, and other evidence-based therapies. |
| Unit-IX | Counselling: definition and goals, techniques, behavioural, cognitive and humanistic approaches, the counselling process, counselling theory, and the procedures for specific domains of counselling. |
| Unit-X | Therapy in special conditions: management of deliberate self harm, bereavement, trauma, victims of man-made or natural disasters, crisis, personality disorders, chronic mental illness, substance use, HIV/AIDS, learning disabilities, mental retardation and other conditions where an integrative or eclectic approach is the basis of intervention. |
| Unit-XI | Therapy with children: introduction to the different approaches; psychoanalytic therapies (Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott); special behavioural and play techniques for developmental, internalizing and externalizing disorders; therapy in psycho-physiological and chronic physical illness; parent and family counselling; therapy with adolescents. |
| Unit-XII | Psychoeducation (therapeutic education): information and emotional support for family members and caregivers; models of therapeutic education; family counselling for a collaborative effort towards recovery, relapse prevention and successful rehabilitation in the various debilitating mental disorders. |
| Unit-XIII | Psychosocial rehabilitation: rehabilitation services and resources; the medical and psychosocial aspects of disability; assessment; group therapy, supportive therapy and other empirically supported psychotherapies for core and peripheral members. |
| Unit-XIV | Psychotherapy in the Indian context: the historical perspective on psychological healing from the Vedic period and the systems of Ayurveda and Yoga; contemporary perspectives; socio-cultural issues in Indian practice; ongoing research on process and outcome. |
| Unit-XV | Contemporary issues and research: evidence-based practice, managed care, and research related to process and outcome. |
| Unit — Behavioral Medicine | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Introduction: definition and boundary; psychological and behavioural influences on health and illness; neuroendocrine, neurotransmitter and neuroimmune responses to stress; negative affectivity, behavioural patterns and coping styles; psychophysiological models of disease; theoretical models of health behaviour; the scope and application of psychological principles in health, illness and healthcare. |
| Unit-II | Central nervous system: cognitive, personality, behavioural and emotional disturbances in the major CNS diseases — cerebrovascular (stroke, vascular dementia), developmental (cerebral palsy), degenerative (Parkinson's), traumatic (brain and spinal cord injury), convulsive (epilepsy) and infectious (AIDS dementia); assessment and methods of psychological intervention and rehabilitation. |
| Unit-III | Cardiovascular system: psychosocial, personality, lifestyle and health-practice issues; psycho-behavioural responses including coping with illness and functional loss in hypertension, MI and after CABG; quality-of-life and well-being; empirically proven methods of psychological management. |
| Unit-IV | Respiratory system: precipitants such as emotional arousal and other external stimuli; exacerbants such as anxiety and panic symptoms; effects such as secondary gain and low self-esteem in asthma and other airway diseases; psychological, behavioural and biofeedback strategies as adjuncts to management. |
| Unit-V | Gastrointestinal system: evaluation of psychological factors including personality characteristics and stress and coping style in functional GI disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, peptic ulcer disease and oesophageal disorder; the role of psychotherapy, behaviour modification, cognitive restructuring, biofeedback and relaxation training. |
| Unit-VI | Genitourinary, renal and reproductive system: psychosocial issues in male and female sexual dysfunction; micturition and voiding problems including primary and secondary enuresis; end-stage renal disease and dialysis treatment; primary and secondary infertility; empirically validated psychological and behavioural interventions. |
| Unit-VII | Dermatology: the role of stress and anxiety in psychodermatological conditions such as psoriasis, chronic urticaria, dermatitis and alopecia; their impact on self-esteem, body image and mood; the role of relaxation, stress management, counselling and biofeedback. |
| Unit-VIII | Oncology: psychosocial issues associated with cancer — quality of life, denial, grief reaction to bodily changes, fear of treatment, side effects, abandonment, recurrence and resilience; assessment tools; and the goals of intervention for the individual and the family, with therapy techniques. |
| Unit-IX | HIV/AIDS: the model of the HIV disease service programme in India; pre- and post-test counselling; psychosocial issues and their resolution as HIV progresses; psychological assessment and intervention in infected adults and children and in family members and caregivers; highly active anti-retroviral treatment (HAART); neuropsychological findings at the different stages of infection; prevention, awareness and interventions in at-risk populations. |
| Unit-X | Pain: the physiological and psychological processes involved in pain experience and behaviour; assessment tools for acute and chronic pain intensity, behaviour and pain-related dysfunction or disability; psychological interventions such as cognitive, behavioural, biofeedback and hypnotic therapies. |
| Unit-XI | The terminally ill: medical, religious and spiritual definitions of death and dying; the psychology of dying and of the bereaved family; strategies for breaking bad news; bereavement and grief counselling; management of pain and other physical symptoms in end-of-life distress in cancer, AIDS and other terminal illness; professional issues in hospice work including working through one's own death anxiety; euthanasia — types and the arguments for and against. |
| Unit-XII | Other general clinical conditions: the application of psychological techniques and their rationale in general medical settings where psychological services appear to improve outcomes — diabetes, sleep disorders, obesity, dental anxiety, burns injury, pre- and post-surgery, preparing for amputation, evaluation of organ donors and recipients, pre- and post-transplantation, organ replacement, haemophiliacs, sensory impairment, rheumatic diseases, abnormal illness behaviour and health anxiety. |
| Unit-XIII | Contemporary issues: research and developments in health psychology, psychophysiology, psychoneuroimmunology, psychobiology and sociobiology and their implications; and the effects of psychotherapy on the biology of the brain. |
| Unit — Statistics | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Introduction: methods of ascertaining knowledge, the scientific method and its features; problems of measurement in the behavioural sciences; levels of measurement — nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales; test construction — item analysis, and the concept and methods of establishing reliability, validity and norms. |
| Unit-II | Sampling: probability and non-probability sampling; simple random, stratified, systematic, cluster and multistage sampling; sampling and non-sampling errors and the methods of minimizing them. |
| Unit-III | Concept of probability: probability distributions — normal, Poisson, binomial; descriptive statistics — central tendency, dispersion, skewness and kurtosis. |
| Unit-IV | Hypothesis testing: formulation and types; null and alternate hypothesis; type I and type II errors; level of significance; power of the test; p-value; the concept of standard error and confidence interval. |
| Unit-V | Parametric tests of significance: requirements, t test, normal z-test, F test including post-hoc tests, one-way and two-way analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, repeated measures analysis of variance, and simple linear correlation and regression. |
| Unit-VI | Non-parametric tests of significance: requirements; one-sample tests — sign test, sign rank test, median test, McNemar test; two-sample tests — Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon rank sum, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, normal scores and chi-square tests; k-sample tests — Kruskal Wallis, Friedman, Anderson-Darling and Cramer-von Mises tests. |
| Unit-VII | Experimental design: randomization, replication, completely randomized design, randomized block design, factorial design, crossover design, single subject design and non-experimental design. |
| Unit-VIII | Epidemiological studies: prospective and retrospective studies, case control and cohort studies; rates, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, kappa statistics, odds ratio, relative risk, population attributable risk, Mantel-Haenszel test, prevalence and incidence; age specific, disease specific and adjusted rates and the standardization of rates; tests of association, 2x2 and row-by-column contingency tables. |
| Unit-IX | Multivariate analysis: introduction, multiple regression, logistic regression, factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant function analysis, path analysis, MANOVA, canonical correlation and multidimensional scaling. |
| Unit-X | Sample size estimation: determination of sample size for estimating a mean, estimating a proportion, comparing two means and comparing two proportions. |
| Unit-XI | Qualitative analysis of data: content analysis and the qualitative methods of psychosocial research. |
| Unit-XII | Use of computers: the use of the relevant statistical package in the behavioural sciences and its limitations. |
General Surgery — four parts and 73 entries, on pages 62 to 67 ↑
General Surgery is split into four lettered parts — surgical anatomy, surgical physiology, surgical pathology, and clinical surgical problems — and the four together come to seventy-three numbered entries.
Two details are worth reading carefully. Entry A-22 carries a note in the document itself that, as per the Head of the Department of Surgery, the lower limb point may be shifted to the Orthopaedics syllabus. And entry D-27, headed simply General, holds twenty-one sub-entries lettered (a) to (u) — trauma, laparoscopy, robotics, theatre safety, endoscopy, audit, research methodology and teaching among them.
| A — Surgical Anatomy | What the syllabus lists |
|---|---|
| 1 — Head and Neck | Parts of the brain including ventricles and the intracranial vascular arrangement; spinothalamic tracts; the great vessels of the neck; neck triangles; trachea; parotid gland, its relations and the facial nerve; the anatomical distribution of cervical lymph nodes. |
| 2 — Thyroid gland | Anatomy of the thyroid and parathyroid glands and the course of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. |
| 3 — Breast | Anatomy of the breast, its lymphatic drainage and the arrangement of the axillary lymph nodes. |
| 4 — Chest | Anatomy of the chest wall, lungs, pleura, heart and great vessels; the course of the oesophagus and its relations with the aorta and azygos vein; the thoracic duct. |
| 5 — Stomach | Blood supply and lymphatic drainage, and the course of the vagus nerve. |
| 6 — Duodenum | Peritoneal reflections and the relationship with the head of the pancreas. |
| 7 — Small Intestine | Malrotation, vitellointestinal duct, urachus and Meckel's diverticulum. |
| 8 — Large Intestine | Appendix — its various positions and their clinical relevance; peritoneal reflections; vascular supply and lymphatic drainage of the large intestine. |
| 9 — Rectum and anus | Peritoneal reflections; vascular and lymphatic arrangement; anal membrane; Hilton's line and the relationship with the perineal muscles; developmental anomalies. |
| 10 — Liver | Anatomical and surgical lobes of the liver, vascular supply and the intrahepatic ductal arrangement. |
| 11 — Gall bladder | Anatomical variations of the cystic duct and cystic artery in relation to the hepatic artery; anatomy of the extrahepatic biliary system. |
| 12 — Pancreas | Relations with the portal vein, inferior mesenteric vein and IVC; the boundaries of the lesser sac. |
| 13 — Spleen | Vascular supply and its relations with the tail of the pancreas, colon, kidney, diaphragm and stomach. |
| 14 — Diaphragm | Development, the various hiatuses and their relationship with the structures passing through them. |
| 15 — Retroperitoneal area | Lymphatics, thoracic duct, lymph nodes, the sympathetic chain, and the anatomy of the great vessels. |
| 16 — Kidney and ureters | Developmental anomalies, blood supply and the course of the ureter. |
| 17 — Suprarenal | Blood supply, venous drainage and relations with the kidney. |
| 18 — Urinary bladder and prostate | Anatomy and relations with the rectum and ureter. |
| 19 — Urethra | Length, the various parts and developmental anomalies. |
| 20 — Penis | Lymphatic drainage and the attachment of the crura. |
| 21 — Testis | Developmental anomalies such as undescended and maldescended testis. |
| 22 — Extremities | Upper limb: the muscular compartments of hand, forearm and arm and the course of the vessels and nerves such as radial, median and ulnar. Lower limb: arterial supply and venous drainage, and the muscular compartments of foot, leg and thigh. The syllabus adds a note that, as per the Head of the Department of Surgery, the lower limb point may be included in the Orthopaedics syllabus instead of General Surgery. |
| 23 — Abdominal wall | Surgical anatomy of the inguinal canal, femoral canal, umbilicus and abdominal wall, and the various abdominal surgical incisions. |
| B — Surgical Physiology | What the syllabus lists |
|---|---|
| 1 — Thyroid | Iodine metabolism and the pituitary-thyroid hormone axis. |
| 2 — Breast | The effects of the various hormones on the breast. |
| 3 — Chest | Mechanism of respiration, its effect on haemodynamics, cardiac circulation, and the surgical causes of hypertension. |
| 4 — Stomach | Mechanism of acid production. |
| 5 — Intestine | Secretory and absorptive mechanisms of the small and large intestine. |
| 6 — Rectum and anus | Mechanism of defecation. |
| 7 — Liver | Mechanism of bile secretion, enterohepatic circulation and the various metabolic functions of the liver. |
| 8 — Gall bladder | Mechanism of gallstone formation. |
| 9 — Pancreas | Exocrine and endocrine pancreatic secretion and the pathophysiology of pancreatitis. |
| 10 — Spleen | Functions of the spleen. |
| 11 — Diaphragm | Gastro-oesophageal reflux. |
| 12 — Kidney | Mechanism of urine formation in relation to acute and chronic renal failure. |
| 13 — Suprarenal | Physiology of the production of the various hormones. |
| 14 — Urinary bladder | Mechanism of micturition and vesico-ureteric reflux. |
| 15 — Testis | Germinal and endocrine functions of the testis. |
| 16 — Critical care | Physiological response to trauma; nutrition in the critically ill surgical patient; enteral and parenteral nutrition; shock; burns; blood transfusion; fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance; ARDS, SIRS and multiple organ failure; physiology of wound healing; mechanism of clotting; abdominal compartment syndrome. |
| C — Surgical Pathology | What the syllabus lists |
|---|---|
| 1 | Various types of biopsy and the preservation of specimens. |
| 2 | Formation of tumours, well differentiated cells, totipotent cells, the histopathological features of neoplasm, and stem cell therapy. |
| 3 | Benign and malignant tumours, gene therapy and tumour markers. |
| 4 | Grading and staging of tumours. |
| 5 | Disturbed wound healing, necrotising fasciitis, gangrene and sequestrum. |
| 6 | Pathology of benign tumours such as lipoma, fibroma, osteoma, adenoma and papilloma. |
| 7 | The various primary malignant tumours and secondary tumours. |
| D — Clinical Surgical Problems (presentation, diagnosis, complications and treatment) | What the syllabus lists |
|---|---|
| 1 — Head and Neck | Hydrocephalus, meningocele, encephalocele; intracranial injury (contusion, concussion, laceration, extradural and subdural haemorrhage, middle meningeal haemorrhage, lucid interval); cervical spine fracture; brain tumours in general; cleft lip and cleft palate; thyroglossal cyst; branchial cyst and fistula; pharyngeal pouch; lymph node enlargement — inflammatory, tubercular and malignant; indications and contraindications of lymph node biopsy in the neck; diseases of the salivary glands and of the lymphatic system. |
| 2 — Thyroid | Types of thyroiditis, thyrotoxicosis, myxoedema, cretinism, solitary thyroid nodule, simple and multinodular goitre, thyroid malignancy, and the controversies in the management of carcinoma of the thyroid. |
| 3 — Parathyroid and breast | Parathyroid adenoma, hyperparathyroidism, malignancy and MEN. Breast: investigation of the breast, ANDI, duct ectasia, galactocoele, puerperal abscess, congenital disorders, fat necrosis, acute and subacute inflammation, abnormal nipple discharge, tuberculosis, actinomycosis, Mondor's disease, phyllodes tumours, carcinoma of the breast (pathology, aetiological factors, staging, clinical presentation and treatment — surgical, radiotherapy, systemic and hormonal — with recent trends), gynaecomastia, carcinoma of the male breast, lipoma, sarcoma and metastases. |
| 4 — Chest | Fractured ribs, flail chest, haemo-pneumothorax, lung injuries, injuries to great vessels, surgical emphysema, cardiac tamponade, tension pneumothorax, pleural effusion, empyema, apical shadow in the lungs, bronchogenic carcinoma and secondaries in the lung. |
| 5 — Oesophagus | Corrosive strictures, malignancy of the oesophagus, Boerhaave's syndrome and variceal bleeding. |
| 6 — Stomach | Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, peptic ulcer and perforation, gastric outlet obstruction, benign and malignant tumours of the stomach, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome types I and II, the role of H. pylori in acid peptic disease and carcinoma of the stomach, and upper GI bleeding. |
| 7 — Intestine | Intestinal atresia, exomphalos major, patent vitello-intestinal duct, Meckel's diverticulum, intestinal obstruction, small gut tumours, tuberculosis of the intestine, caecum and large intestine, malignancy of caecum and large intestine, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and their surgical management, short gut syndrome, intussusception, gastrojejunal bypass, bariatric and metabolic surgery, familial adenomatous polyposis, lower GI bleeding, mesenteric ischaemia, intestinal failure and intestinal transplantation. |
| 8 — Rectum and anus | Imperforate anus, Hirschsprung's disease, piles, fistula in ano, fissure in ano, polyps and adenomas, anorectal carcinoma with special reference to modern management, low anterior resection and the value of circular staplers. |
| 9 — Liver | Liver injuries, liver abscess, hydatid disease, benign and malignant hepatic tumours, secondaries, portal hypertension, liver resection and hepatic transplantation. |
| 10 — Gall bladder | Gallstones, acute and chronic cholecystitis, complications of gallstones, malignancy of the gall bladder and post-operative bile leaks. |
| 11 — Common bile duct | Bilioma, haemobilia, biliary strictures, cholangitis, cholangiocarcinoma, obstructive jaundice and periampullary carcinoma. |
| 12 — Pancreas | Pancreatic injury, acute and chronic pancreatitis with recent management, endocrine tumours of the pancreas, the recent understanding of the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis, cysts of the pancreas, malignancy of the pancreas and pancreatic transplantation. |
| 13 — Spleen | Splenic abscess, hypersplenism, splenic injury, splenomegaly, tumours of the spleen, portal hypertension, splenic auto transplantation, splenorrhaphy and overwhelming post-splenectomy infection. |
| 14 — Diaphragm | Diaphragmatic hernia, eventration, diaphragmatic injuries and penetrating thoraco-abdominal injuries. |
| 15 — Retroperitoneum and peritoneum | Retroperitoneal tumours, retroperitoneal fibrosis, peritonitis, intra-abdominal abscess, burst abdomen, mesenteric cyst, pseudomyxoma peritonei, peritoneal neoplasm and acute mesenteric lymphadenitis. |
| 16 — Kidney | Congenital anomalies, renal trauma, renal stone, hydronephrosis, pyonephrosis, perinephric abscess, tuberculosis of the kidney, renal tumours and paramalignant apudomas, renal transplantation and donor nephrectomy. |
| 17 — Ureter | Ureteric stones and ureteric transplantation, PUJ obstruction, ureteric injury and uretero-reno-scopy. |
| 18 — Suprarenal | Phaeochromocytoma, incidentaloma, adrenocortical carcinoma, neuroblastoma and their surgical management. |
| 19 — Urinary bladder and prostate | Exstrophy of the bladder, posterior urethral valves, bladder injury, stones, haematuria, cystitis, tuberculosis, diverticulum, benign and malignant tumours, acute and chronic prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, malignancy of the prostate, retention of urine, incontinence and urgency. |
| 20 — Urethra | Urethral injuries, stricture, stone, hypospadias and epispadias. |
| 21 — Penis | Phimosis, meatal stenosis, paraphimosis, balanitis, ulcers and malignancy, priapism and erectile dysfunction. |
| 22 — Testis | Undescended testis, ectopic testis, acute orchitis, chronic epididymo-orchitis, torsion of the testis, hydrocele, varicocele, haematocele, tumours of the testis and the recent trends in their management. |
| 23 — Upper extremities | Soft tissue injuries including nerve, muscle and vessel injury, cervical rib and Raynaud's disease. |
| 24 — Skin | Ulcers, tumours, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, sarcoma, melanoma, Kaposi's sarcoma and wound management. |
| 25 — Lower limb | Varicose veins, DVT, soft tissue, muscle, vessel and nerve injury, peripheral vascular disease, compartment syndrome and endoscopic ligation of subfascial perforators. |
| 26 — Hernia | Definition and classification; internal hernia (diaphragmatic, paraduodenal, transmesenteric); external hernia (inguinal, femoral, epigastric, umbilical, paraumbilical and incisional); and the laparoscopic anatomy of the inguinal region. |
| 27 — General (21 sub-entries, a to u) | Trauma — polytrauma, resuscitation and triage; radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and tumour markers; basic and advanced laparoscopic surgery; robotic surgery and tele-surgery; anaesthesia — endotracheal intubation, tracheostomy, cardiac arrest, resuscitation and death on table, epidural and spinal anaesthesia; operation theatre safety, design and layout with autoclave and plasma sterilization; infective surgical diseases — gangrene, tetanus, necrotising fasciitis, diabetic foot, carbuncle, surgical site infection with prevention and antibiotic use; AIDS and universal precautions; diagnostic procedures — IVP, barium studies, MRI, CT, PET, virtual endoscopy, Doppler and USG; endoscopic procedures — gastroscopy, ERCP, oesophagoscopy, colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy, cystoscopy and ureteric catheterization; NOTES; recent advances in surgery at the time of the examination and interview; the fundamentals of plastic surgery, neurosurgery, urology, paediatric surgery and gastrointestinal surgery; various operative procedures; biomedical waste management; lasers in surgery; surgical audit; evidence based surgery; day care surgery; research methodology; and types of teaching. |
Orthopaedics — 12 units, on pages 67 to 68 ↑
Twelve compact units, and the shortest discipline entry of its kind in the document — which is precisely why every unit here matters: there is no padding to skip.
Unit-XI is worth noting because it belongs to another specialty on paper: physical medicine and rehabilitation, occupational therapy, electro-diagnosis, electromyography, prosthesis, orthotics and disability assessment are all inside the orthopaedics syllabus.
| Unit / entry | Topics the syllabus names under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Applied and basic medical sciences — anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology and microbiology — in relation to orthopaedics. |
| Unit-II | Bone and joint infections: pyogenic, tuberculosis, syphilis, mycotic, salmonella, brucella, HIV and viral. |
| Unit-III | Congenital anomalies and developmental deformities, their diagnosis and management. |
| Unit-IV | Traumatology in general and in reference to the locomotor system; principles of treatment in trauma; peripheral nerve injuries; the principles of Ilizarov and its application. |
| Unit-V | Diseases, anomalies and injuries of the spine. |
| Unit-VI | Metabolic bone disorders; autoimmune bone and joint disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and fluorosis. |
| Unit-VII | Bone tumours, and the recent trends in limb salvage, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. |
| Unit-VIII | Amputations and disarticulations through the bones and joints of the limbs. |
| Unit-IX | Degenerative disorders of the extremities such as osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joints and of the spine — diagnosis and management. |
| Unit-X | Recent advances: arthroscopic surgery, joint replacement, spine surgery, CT scan, MRI, bone scan, PET scan, bone bank, the role of stem cells, minimally invasive technique and microscopic surgery in orthopaedics. |
| Unit-XI | Physical medicine and rehabilitation including occupational therapy, electro-diagnosis and electromyography; the whole concept of prosthesis and orthotics; physical disability assessment. |
| Unit-XII | Disaster management and polytrauma management. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (ENT) — 24 entries, on pages 68 to 70 ↑
ENT is written as twenty-four unnumbered paragraphs rather than as units, and each paragraph is a topic in its own right. They are numbered here in the order the document prints them so that nothing is skipped in a read-through.
Six of the twenty-four are not clinical ENT at all — medical education technology, research methodology, evidence based medicine and good clinical practice, radiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine — and one more is medical jurisprudence and ethics.
| Entry | Topic as the syllabus states it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Applied embryology and applied anatomy of the nose and paranasal sinuses, mandible, ear, vestibular system, temporal bone, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, tracheobronchial tree, oesophagus, neck (including salivary glands, thyroid, parathyroids and neck spaces), orbit, skull base including the related meningeal system and brain, the central auditory, speech, language and vestibular areas, the cranial nerves and the related lymphovascular and neural systems. |
| 2 | Applied physiology of phonation, speech and language, breathing, respiration, lacrimation, sound and hearing, the balance system including the peripheral and central vestibular pathways, smell, taste, mastication, swallowing, CSF physiology and cranial nerve function. |
| 3 | Clinical methods for the assessment and evaluation of the structure, function and pathology of the nose and paranasal sinuses, mandible, ear, temporal bone, face, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, tracheobronchial tree, oesophagus, neck, orbit, skull base including the related meningeal system, brain and cranial nerves, and speech and language. |
| 4 | Applied physics, equipment, methodology and interpretation of the various tests of audiological evaluation, and their application in different clinical scenarios and age groups. |
| 5 | Applied physics, equipment, methodology and interpretation of the various tests of vestibular evaluation, and their application in different clinical scenarios and age groups. |
| 6 | Medical education technology, including competence based medical education, integrated teaching and newer teaching tools and methods. |
| 7 | Research methodology, including the various research designs, biostatistics and related factors such as sampling and bias. |
| 8 | Basics of evidence based medicine and good clinical practice. |
| 9 | Principles, technique and clinical applications of the various facial aesthetic, plastic and reconstructive procedures — including rhinoplasty, otoplasty and pinna reconstruction — and the newer advances in ENT, head-neck and skull base pathology. |
| 10 | General pathological aspects such as wound healing, and the pathology and pathogenesis of ENT diseases; pharmacology, genetics, cytology, haematology, blood transfusion and immunology as applicable to otolaryngology. |
| 11 | Principles, techniques and clinical applications of the various targeted therapies for otorhinolaryngologic, skull base and head and neck tumours, including gene therapy, molecular biology and immunotherapy. |
| 12 | Principles, techniques and applications of the various chemotherapeutic agents related to otorhinolaryngologic, skull base and head and neck tumours. |
| 13 | Principles, techniques and newer modalities in the management of trauma and emergencies in otorhinolaryngology, the skull base and head and neck — including fractures, CSF leaks, foreign bodies, airway obstruction, bleeding, face and neck injuries, hearing loss and vertigo. |
| 14 | Principles and techniques of anaesthesia in otorhinolaryngologic, skull base and head and neck procedures, including the newer modalities. |
| 15 | Pathology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and the medical, surgical and rehabilitative management of the diseases of the ear, nose, throat, head and neck, skull base region, larynx, trachea and oesophagus — congenital, developmental, inflammatory, infectious, neoplastic, traumatic, neurological, immune and idiopathic. |
| 16 | Evaluation and management of the various skull base disorders, including pituitary, orbit, CP angle, the various cranial fossae, the infratemporal and pterygopalatine fossa and the clivus. |
| 17 | Principles of managing ear, nose, throat, head-neck and skull base disorders in the paediatric and geriatric population. |
| 18 | Principles of preventive and community medicine related to ear, nose, throat, head-neck and skull base disorders. |
| 19 | Principles of the diagnosis, evaluation and management of sleep disorders. |
| 20 | Recent advances in the field with the relevant technological concepts and their clinical applications, including computers, lasers, powered instrumentation, energy delivery devices, navigation, endoscopes, hearing aids and implants, cochlear and brainstem implants, stereotactic radiosurgery, gamma knife, cyber knife, robotics, ultrasonic surgical devices, optical fluorescence and microscopes. |
| 21 | Concepts, technique, clinical applications and interpretation of the related radiological investigations and interventions, and the newer modalities in ENT, head-neck and skull base pathology. |
| 22 | Concepts, technique and clinical applications of the related radiotherapeutic modalities and the newer advances in ENT, head-neck and skull base pathology. |
| 23 | Concepts, technique, clinical applications and interpretation of the related nuclear medicine modalities and the newer advances in ENT, head-neck and skull base pathology. |
| 24 | Principles of medical jurisprudence and ethics in clinical practice. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Ophthalmology — 22 numbered topics and 2 closing entries, pages 70 to 72 ↑
Twenty-two numbered topics that run structure-first — anatomy, physiology, optics and refraction — and then work outward through the eyelids and lacrimal system to the orbit, and inward through lens, glaucoma, cornea, retina and uvea.
Two further entries are printed after the closing line of the discipline, below the recent-advances note: proptosis with its causes and management, and ocular microbiology. They are reproduced here as entries 23 and 24 so that a reader working from this page does not miss them.
| No. | Topic as the syllabus lists it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic anatomy of the eye. |
| 2 | Physiology of the eye. |
| 3 | Optics and refraction of the eye. |
| 4 | Eyelids: benign nodules and cysts, benign epidermal tumours, benign pigmented lesions, benign adnexal tumours, miscellaneous benign tumours, malignant tumours, disorders of lashes, allergic disorders, bacterial and viral infections, blepharitis, ptosis, ectropion, entropion, miscellaneous acquired disorders, cosmetic eyelid and periocular surgery, congenital malformations. |
| 5 | Lacrimal drainage system: physiology, causes of a watering eye, evaluation, acquired and congenital obstruction, lacrimal surgery, chronic canaliculitis, dacryocystitis. |
| 6 | Orbit: thyroid eye disease, infections, non-infective inflammatory disease, vascular malformations, carotico-cavernous fistula, cystic lesions, tumours, the anophthalmic socket, craniosynostoses. |
| 7 | Dry eye disorders: definitions, physiology, classification, Sjogren syndrome, clinical features, special investigations and treatment. |
| 8 | Conjunctiva: bacterial, viral and allergic conjunctivitis, conjunctivitis in blistering mucocutaneous disease, miscellaneous conjunctivitis and degenerations. |
| 9 | Episclera and sclera: episcleritis, immune-mediated and infectious scleritis, scleral discolouration, blue sclera and miscellaneous conditions. |
| 10 | Lens: acquired cataract, management of age-related cataract, newer techniques of cataract surgery, congenital cataract, ectopia lentis, abnormalities of shape, and the latest developments in IOL design. |
| 11 | Glaucoma: tonometry, gonioscopy, evaluation of the optic nerve, imaging, perimetry, ocular hypertension, primary open-angle and normal-pressure glaucoma, primary angle-closure glaucoma, classification of secondary glaucoma, pseudoexfoliation, pigment dispersion, neovascular, inflammatory, lens related and traumatic glaucoma, iridocorneal endothelial syndrome, glaucoma in intraocular tumours, in epithelial growth and in iridoschisis, primary congenital glaucoma, iridocorneal dysgenesis, glaucoma in phacomatoses, glaucoma medications and newer anti-glaucoma drugs, laser therapy, trabeculectomy, non-penetrating surgery, antimetabolites in filtration surgery and drainage shunts. |
| 12 | Cornea: basic structure and function, limbal stem cells and their clinical application, ocular surface rehabilitation, examination and evaluation techniques, corneal blindness and its epidemiology, infectious, immunologic, metabolic and congenital diseases of the cornea, conjunctival corneal dysplasia and malignancy, corneal dystrophies and degeneration, corneal surgery including emerging innovation, and modern eye banking with its advances and challenges. |
| 13 | Retina: retinal imaging and diagnosis, the basic sciences of the retina, genetics in relation to the retina, hereditary retinal and choroidal disease, macular dystrophies, retinal vascular diseases, age related macular disease, inflammatory and infective diseases of retina and choroid, retinal detachment including newer treatment modalities, vitreous and retinal surgery, tumours of retina and choroid, endophthalmitis and artificial vision. |
| 14 | Uveal tissue: classification of uveitis, immune mechanisms in the eye, clinical features, special investigations, principles of treatment, the role of immunosuppressants, intermediate uveitis, uveitis in spondyloarthropathies, juvenile arthritis, bowel disease and renal disease, sarcoidosis, Behcet syndrome, toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis, miscellaneous parasitic uveitis, uveitis in immunodeficiency syndrome, miscellaneous viral, fungal and bacterial uveitis, white dot syndromes, primary stromal choroiditis and miscellaneous anterior and posterior uveitis. |
| 15 | Ocular tumours: benign, malignant and premalignant epibulbar tumours, iris tumours and cysts, ciliary body tumours, tumours of the choroid, neural and vascular retinal tumours, primary intraocular lymphoma, tumours of the retinal pigment epithelium and paraneoplastic syndromes. |
| 16 | Strabismus: amblyopia, clinical evaluation, heterophoria, vergence abnormalities, esotropia, exotropia, special syndromes, alphabet patterns and surgery. |
| 17 | Neuro-ophthalmology: neuroimaging, the optic nerve, pupillary reactions, chiasma, retrochiasmal pathways, ocular motor nerves, supranuclear disorders of ocular motility, nystagmus, carotid stenosis, intracranial aneurysms, ocular myopathies, neurofibromatosis, migraine and facial spasm. |
| 18 | Ocular pharmacology. |
| 19 | Trauma: eyelid trauma, orbital fractures, trauma to the globe and chemical injuries. |
| 20 | Causes and prevention of blindness, including NPCB and Vision 2020. |
| 21 | Ocular manifestations of systemic disease, for example diabetes mellitus, hypertension, AIDS, renal disorders and thyroid disease. |
| 22 | Clinical methods and recent advances in ophthalmology. |
| 23 | Proptosis — causes and management (listed at the end of the discipline). |
| 24 | Ocular microbiology (listed at the end of the discipline). |
Obstetrics and Gynaecology — one 8-point syllabus printed twice, pages 72 to 74 ↑
The syllabus appears twice: as 18A for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and as 18B for the Assistant Professor / Antenatal Care Incharge and the Maternity and Child Welfare Officer posts [Level-11]. We compared the two blocks character by character after stripping spacing. The topic text is identical; the only difference is that the sub-item numbering in 18B slips, running (iv), (v), (vi) where 18A runs (i), (ii), (iii).
One entry deserves a candidate's attention rather than silence, and it is entry 6 — see the note in that row.
| Topic | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Basic Sciences | Applied and basic anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology, microbiology, endocrinology and genetics in relation to obstetrics and gynaecology. |
| 2 — Obstetrics | Normal obstetrics; high risk and critical obstetrics; operative obstetrics and applied anaesthesia; imaging in obstetrics; prenatal diagnostics and fetal medicine; neonatology; social obstetrics. |
| 3 — Gynaecology | The full range of gynaecological conditions with their diagnostic workup and management; all aspects of operative gynaecology; reproductive endocrinology and infertility; gynaecological oncology; adolescent and geriatric health and gynaecology; breast diseases; medicolegal aspects in obstetrics and gynaecology and the examination of victims of sexual assault; reproductive tract infections. |
| 4 — Contraception | Population control, family welfare and planning; statistical demography; MTP and comprehensive abortion care. |
| 5 — Recent Advances | Recent advances in the subject. |
| 6 — Health programmes and policies | Health programmes and policies. The document prints this entry as "NATIONAL & STATE (Rajasthan)" — Rajasthan, in a Jammu and Kashmir syllabus. We reproduce the wording as printed rather than correcting it; a candidate should prepare the national programmes, treat the state entry as covering the state programmes of the recruiting state, and ask JKPSC if a formal clarification matters to them. |
| 7 — Biomedical research and medical education technology | Biomedical research and medical education technology. |
| 8 — Basic communication skills and counselling | Basic communication skills and counselling. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Radiodiagnosis — 6 units holding 47 numbered entries, pages 74 to 76 ↑
Six units, but the count that matters is inside them: forty-seven numbered entries, of which thirteen are radiological physics and ten are radiography and processing technique. This is not a syllabus that can be prepared from clinical reading alone.
The named regulatory content is specific and therefore very askable — the PC-PNDT Act with its amendments, the Consumer Protection Act, and e-LORA, AERB and ICRP for radiation control.
| Unit | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — Basic Science | Anatomy: embryology, gross and cross-sectional anatomy of all body systems. Pathology: gross morphology of the pathological conditions of systemic diseases affecting all organ systems. Human physiology: basic physiology of all systems and organs. |
| Unit-II — Clinical Radio-diagnosis (13 entries) | Imaging and interpretation of disease in every body system: musculoskeletal (muscles, soft tissue, bones and joints — congenital, inflammatory, traumatic, endocrine and metabolic, neoplastic and miscellaneous); respiratory (chest wall, diaphragm, pleura and airway, pulmonary infection, vasculature and neoplasm, diffuse lung disease, mediastinal disease, chest trauma, the post-operative lung and X-ray in intensive care); cardiovascular, congenital and acquired, with the role of conventional radiology, ultrasound, colour Doppler, CT, MRI, angiography and isotope studies; gastrointestinal and hepato-biliary-pancreatic, including acute abdomen and abdominal trauma; urogenital; central nervous system covering head, neck and spine; imaging in emergency medicine; imaging in obstetrics and gynaecology; breast imaging and interventional procedures; ENT, eye and dental imaging; imaging of the endocrine glands and metabolic disease; clinical applied radionuclide imaging; and interventional radiology. |
| Unit-III — Radiological Physics (13 entries) | General properties of radiation and matter and the fundamentals of nuclear physics and radioactivity; interaction of X-rays and gamma rays with matter; X-ray generating apparatus; screen-film radiography; film processing — dark room, dry processing, laser and dry chemistry cameras, artefacts; fluoroscopy including image intensifier TV, digital and flat panel units; digital radiography — computed and flat panel; other equipment — ultrasound with Doppler, CT, DEXA, MRI and DSA; contrast media (barium, iodinated, MR and ultrasound) with their types, chemical composition, mechanism of action, dose schedule, route of administration, adverse reactions and management; nuclear medicine including scintigraphy, bone scan, SPECT and PET, isotopes in the various organ systems and recent advances; radiation biology, hazards, protection and dosimetry; image quality and quality assurance; and regulatory control of radiation in India and abroad — e-LORA, AERB and ICRP. |
| Unit-IV — General and specialized radiography and processing techniques (10 entries) | Processing techniques including dark room and dry processing; radiography of the musculoskeletal system including the extremities; radiography of chest, spine, abdomen and pelvic girdle; radiography of skull, orbit and sinuses; contrast techniques and interpretation for the GI tract, hepato-biliary tract and pancreas; for the central nervous system; for the cardiovascular system including the chest; and for the genito-urinary system including obstetrics and gynaecology; paediatric radiology including MCU, genitogram and bone age; and dental, portable and emergency radiography. |
| Unit-V — Recent advances in radio-diagnosis and imaging (11 entries) | Ultrasound elastography, 3-D printing, 3-D and 4-D ultrasonography; digital mammography, tomosynthesis and stereotactic biopsy; dual energy CT, CT fluoroscopy, CT angiography and MDCT; functional MRI, DTI and advanced MR sequences; PET-CT and PET-MR; evidence based radiology; artificial intelligence in radio-diagnosis; nuclear molecular imaging; the diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in radio-diagnosis and their tools; PACS and RIS for a film-less department and teleradiology; and planning a modern imaging department. |
| Unit-VI — Ethical and medico-legal issues | Medico-legal imaging reporting, the PC-PNDT Act with its amendments and the Consumer Protection Act; ethical issues, the doctor-patient relationship, and issues of image interpretation and reporting. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Radiotherapy — 6 units covering 41 topic blocks, pages 76 to 85 ↑
Radiotherapy occupies ten pages, more than any other discipline in this document, and the reason is Unit-I. It is titled Basic Sciences but it contains a full radiation physics course — beam data, treatment planning, electron beam therapy, brachytherapy, quality assurance and the AERB regulatory route — followed by radiobiology, nuclear medicine and clinical trials.
Units II to VI are comparatively compact: clinical radiotherapy, clinical chemotherapy, the allied surgical disciplines, palliative care, and research, training and administration. A candidate who prepares only the clinical units is preparing about a third of this paper.
| Unit-I — Basic Sciences | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Anatomy | Anatomy pertaining to oncology, cross-sectional anatomy and the relationship of vital structures. |
| Pathology | General pathology pertaining to oncology: malignant transformation; criteria for tumour diagnosis; macroscopic, histological and cytological uses and the value of biopsy material; tumour markers; cytogenetics; molecular pathology; immunohistochemistry; classification of tumours — histogenic, histological, behavioural and immunological; nomenclature of solid tumours, lymphomas and leukemias; endocrine aspects of malignancy — production of hormones by tumours, the effect of hormones on tumours and the paracrine effects of tumours; paraneoplastic syndromes; aetiology of cancer; tumour immunology. |
| Physics — Structure of matter | Constituents of atoms, atomic and mass numbers, atomic and mass-energy units, electron shells, atomic and nuclear energy levels, nuclear forces and binding energy; electromagnetic radiation and spectrum, energy quantization and the relationship between wavelength, frequency and energy. |
| Physics — Nuclear transformations | Natural and artificial radioactivity, alpha and beta decay, decay constant, activity, physical, biological and effective half-lives, mean life, decay processes, radioactive series and radioactive equilibrium. |
| Physics — Production of X-rays | The X-ray tube and circuits, the physics of X-ray production, continuous and characteristic spectrum, efficiency of production, distribution of X-rays in space, specification and measurement of beam quality, filters and filtration. |
| Physics — Interaction of radiation with matter | Attenuation, scattering, absorption and transmission; attenuation coefficient and half value layer; energy transfer and absorption and their coefficients; photoelectric effect, Compton effect and pair production and their relative importance at various photon energies; electron interactions — collisional and radiative losses, ionization, excitation, heat production, delta rays, polarization effects, scattering, stopping power, absorbed dose and secondary electrons; interactions of charged particles — ionization versus energy, stopping power, linear energy transfer, Bragg curve and the definition of particle range. |
| Physics — Measurement of radiation | Radiation detectors — gas, solid-state, scintillation, thermoluminescence and visual imaging (film, fluorescent screens) with examples; exposure, dose and kerma with their definitions, old and new units and interrelationships and their variation with energy and material; measurement of exposure by free air and thimble chamber; calibration of therapy beams, concepts and phantoms; quality assurance checks on radiation therapy units; and the protocols TG21, IAEA TRS-277 and TG51, with dose determination in practice in outline. |
| Physics — Radiotherapy equipment | Grenz ray, contact, superficial, orthovoltage or deep therapy, supervoltage and megavoltage therapy; comparison of therapy and diagnostic X-ray units; filters, factors affecting output and principles of cooling; betatrons; Co-60 units with their safety mechanisms and source capsule; linear accelerators — history, development, detailed description of a modern dual mode linac, the linac head and its constituents, safety mechanisms, computer-controlled linacs, record and verify systems, and the relative merits of Co-60 and linac units; betatrons and cyclotrons for neutron therapy; and simulators with a detailed description of a typical unit and the simulator CT. |
| Physics — Beam data and dose distribution | Characteristics of photon beams, beam quality, the difference between MV and MeV, primary and scattered radiation; percentage depth dose, tissue-air ratio, scatter air ratio, tissue-phantom ratio, tissue maximum ratio, scatter maximum ratio, back scatter and peak scatter factor, off-axis ratio and their variation with depth, field size, source-skin distance, beam quality, flattening filter and target material; central axis depth dose profiles; the equivalent square concept, surface dose, skin sparing effect and output factors; practical Co-60 and accelerator calculations by SSD and SAD technique; beam profiles, isodose curves and charts, flatness, symmetry, penumbra and field size definition; body inhomogeneities — the effect of patient contour, bone, lung cavities and prostheses, interface effects and electronic disequilibrium; wedge filters, wedge angle and factors, wedge systems and isodose curves; compensation for contour variation and tissue inhomogeneity by bolus, build up material and compensators; and shielding of dose-limiting tissue by divergent and non-divergent blocks, independent jaws and multileaf collimators. |
| Treatment planning I | Treatment planning for photon beams with ICRU 50, the relevant ICRU reports and NACP terminology; determination of body contour and localization by plain film, fluoroscopy, CT, MRI, ultrasonography and simulator; correction for oblique incidence and body inhomogeneity; SSD and isocentric (SAD) technique with the advantages of SAD; combination of fields — field addition, parallel opposed fields, patient thickness against dose uniformity at different energies, multiple fields (3 field, 4 field box and others) in SSD and SAD, integral dose, wedge field technique, rotation therapy (arc and skip), tangential fields, beam balancing by weighting, total and hemi-body irradiation, and field junctions. |
| Treatment planning II | The limitations of manual planning; description of a 2D and 3D treatment planning system; beam and patient data input, input devices and the direct link with CT and MR; beam selection and placement; beam's eye view; dose calculation and display — point dose, isodose curves and surfaces, colour wash; plan optimization; plan evaluation tools including cumulative and differential dose-volume histograms; hard copy output; and storage and retrieval of plans. |
| Alignment and immobilization | External and internal reference marks; the importance of immobilization; immobilization methods — plaster of Paris and perspex casts, bite block, shells, headrests, neck rolls, alpha-cradles, thermoplastic materials and polyurethane foams; and methods of beam alignment using isocentric marks, laser marks and front and back pointers. |
| Treatment execution and verification | Light field, crosshair, optical distance indicators and the scales on treatment machines; treatment verification by port films and electronic portal imaging devices; in-vivo patient dosimetry with TLD, diode detectors, MOSFET and film; and changes in patient position, target volume and critical volume during the course of treatment. |
| Electron beam therapy | Production of electron beams using accelerators and the characteristics of electrons; surface dose, percentage depth dose, beam profiles, isodose curves and charts, flatness and symmetry; beam collimation and the variation of depth dose and output with field size and SSD; photon contamination; energy spectrum and specification and the variation of mean energy with depth; suitability of measuring instruments for electron dosimetry; and treatment planning — choice of energy and field size, air gaps and obliquity, tissue inhomogeneity in lung, bone and air-filled cavities, field junctions with electron or photon beams, external and internal shielding, arc therapy, use of bolus, total skin electron irradiation and intraoperative radiation therapy. |
| Brachytherapy | Properties of an ideal brachytherapy source; the sources used — Ra-226, Cs-137, Ir-192, Au-198, Co-60, I-125, Sr-90, Y-90, Ru-106, Ta-182 and newer radionuclides — with their physical properties, radium hazards, source construction including filtration and their comparative advantages, and the historical background; radiation and dose units — activity used, exposure, absorbed dose, mg-hr, curie, millicurie destroyed, milligram radium equivalent, roentgen, rad and gray; source strength specification and the brachytherapy dose calibrator; techniques — pre-loaded and afterloading (manual and remote), surface, interstitial, intracavitary, intraluminal and intravascular brachytherapy, low, medium, high and pulsed dose rates and remote afterloading machines; dosage systems — the Manchester system in outline and the Paris system as working knowledge; treatment planning — patient selection, volume specification, implant geometry, number, strength and distribution of sources, source localization, dose calculation, dose rate specification, record keeping and ICRU 38; radiation safety — planning of the brachytherapy facility, rooms and equipment, storage and movement control, source inventory, disposal and regulatory requirements, and beta-ray brachytherapy with its methods of use, inspection, storage, transport and dose distribution; and unsealed radionuclides — uptake, distribution and elimination, activities used in clinical practice, estimation of dose to target tissue and critical organs, and the procedures for administering radionuclides to patients. |
| Quality assurance in radiotherapy (QART) | An overview of ESTRO QART: the need for a quality system in radiotherapy, its definition and practical advantages, and the construction, development and implementation of a quality system; quality assurance and acceptance testing of the simulator, the treatment planning system, Co-60 units and the linear accelerator. |
| Radiation protection and regulatory aspects | The statutory framework and the principles underlying ICRP recommendations; ICRP and national radiation protection standards of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board; effective dose limits; protection by time, distance and shielding and the ALARA concept; personnel and area monitoring — film badge, TLD badge, pocket dosimeter, gamma zone monitors and survey meters; and the regulatory steps for installing and commissioning a new teletherapy or brachytherapy facility — approval of the Standing Committee on the Radiotherapy Development Programme, type approval, site plan and layout with primary and secondary barriers, leakage and scattered radiation, procurement of sources, construction, qualified staff, procurement of instruments, installation and performance tests, calibration, RP&AD approval for clinical commissioning, and the other regulatory requirements including consent, NOCs and periodical reports to AERB and to the Radiological Physics and Advisory Division of BARC. |
| Advancements in radiation oncology | Virtual simulation — principle, CT-simulation, TPS based virtual simulation, differences, merits, demerits and practical considerations; conformal radiotherapy — principles, advantages over conventional methods and its essential requirements; the methods of CRT — customized field shaping with conventional coplanar beams, multiple non-coplanar MLC beams, stereotactic radiotherapy, inverse planning and IMRT (3D compensators, static step-and-shoot, dynamic sliding window, dynamic arc, micro-MLC and tomotherapy) and time gated 4D radiotherapy with the merits and demerits of IMRT; stereotactic irradiation — physics principles, techniques, the gamma knife and linac based units such as CyberKnife and tomotherapy, SRS and SRT and the whole body stereotactic frame; and networking of planning and treatment units including PACS with its advantages and patient data management. |
| Planning of a radiotherapy department | Building design, the choice of equipment and sources, acceptance and calibration tests, and the various maintenance steps and procedures. |
| Radiobiology | Introduction to radiation biology; radiation interaction with matter; the factors influencing radiation response; the relevance of radiation biology to radiotherapy; interaction of ionizing radiation with mammalian cells; organ radiosensitivity and radioresponsiveness and the concept of therapeutic index; acute effects of radiation; radiation effects on the major organs and tissues; late somatic and genetic effects; effects of radiation on the human embryo and foetus; and the biology and radiation response of tumours. |
| Applied radiobiology | Fractionation — its rationale and the four Rs; the time, dose and fractionation relationship — isoeffect curves and relationships such as NSD and CRE formalisms with their limitations, partial tolerance and its summation, and the steepness of dose-response curves; multi-target, two-component and linear-quadratic models, alpha/beta ratios for acute and late effects and how they are derived, isoeffective formulae, and the clinical applications of the LQ model — hyperfractionation, accelerated fractionation, hypofractionation, CHART and split dose treatments; brachytherapy at low dose rate, high dose rate and pulsed treatment; new techniques to optimize radio-curability — combination therapy with adjuvant surgery or chemotherapy, hyperthermia, hypoxic cell radiosensitizers, high LET radiation and photodynamic therapy; and the volume effect with its general principles, current hypotheses and the shrinking field technique. |
| Combination of radiation and surgery | Pre-operative, post-operative and intra-operative radiation; its rationale, the radiobiological factors and the current clinical results; irradiation of subclinical disease, debulking surgery and the importance of clonogenic numbers. |
| Combination of radiation and chemotherapy, and hyperthermia | Definitions of radiosensitizer, synergism, potentiation and antagonism; types and mechanisms of radiosensitizers; hyperthermia — sources, rationale with historical examples, advantages, disadvantages and thermotolerance; cellular damage compared and contrasted with radiation, the thermal and non-thermal effects of ultrasound, microwaves and radiofrequency; general host responses in immunology and metastasis; use alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy with the optimum sequencing of combined modalities; and the current limitations to the clinical use of hyperthermia. |
| High LET radiation | Comparison and contrast with low LET radiation; neutrons — sources including californium-252 and boron neutron capture in outline, the advantages and disadvantages of neutrons, RBE values, the hazards of low dose and low energy neutrons, use in radiotherapy, combination with low LET and current clinical results; and other high LET particles — protons, mesons and high-energy heavy nuclei — with their application to radiotherapy and current clinical results. |
| Nuclear medicine — radiopharmaceuticals | Physical and chemical characteristics of the radionuclides used in nuclear medicine; radiopharmacy and generator produced radiopharmaceuticals; criteria for selecting a radionuclide; the biological behaviour of radiopharmaceuticals; quality control; mechanism of localization; radiopharmaceuticals for therapy; positron emission radionuclides — their preparation, the modules of nuclear reactions, target reactions and chemistry; and specific topics on bone seeking, hepatobiliary, tumour seeking and cardiac imaging radiopharmaceuticals and those used for research. |
| Therapeutic uses of radionuclides | Application of isotopes in therapy for thyrotoxicosis; cancer of the thyroid, both low dose and high dose; bone palliation using P-32, Sr-89 and Sm-153; and I-131 lipiodol for hepatic cancer. |
| Clinical trials | The statistical basis for planning and interpreting clinical trials: their advantages and disadvantages, retrospective and prospective studies, controlled and uncontrolled trials, single-blind and double-blind studies, Phase I, II and III trials, and ethics under the Declaration of Helsinki. |
| Unit-II — Clinical Radiotherapy | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Cancer epidemiology and aetiology | Cancer statistics worldwide and in India; cancer registries and the National Cancer Control Programme; analysis of data in cancer registries; regional cancer centres; and cancer screening and prevention. |
| Patient care | Assessment and referral systems for radiotherapy; diagnosis and workup; staging; care and evaluation during and after treatment; and emergencies in oncology. |
| Management of the different malignancies | Skin cancer; central nervous system, orbital and spinal tumours; head and neck tumours; thoracic tumours; breast tumours; gastrointestinal tumours; liver, gall bladder, bile duct and pancreatic tumours; paediatric tumours; gynaecologic tumours; male genitourinary and urinary tract tumours; endocrine tumours; haematological malignancies — leukemias, lymphomas and plasma cell neoplasms; sarcomas of bone and soft tissue; metastasis of unknown origin; AIDS-related malignancies; and oncologic emergencies. |
| Endocrine aspects and related conditions | Production of hormones by tumours, the effect of hormones on tumours and their paracrine effects; paraneoplastic syndromes; benign diseases; and hereditary cancer syndromes. |
| Techniques of radiotherapy | Small field beam directed therapy; extended and irregular field therapy; beam modification therapy; rotation arc therapy; intracavitary, interstitial and mould application; treatment planning and presentation; mould room practices; simulation; the computerized treatment planning system; clinical dosimetry; and prescription and execution. |
| Treatment response and result | Guidelines for assessing treatment response — complete response, partial response, no response and stable disease; the endpoints of treatment results — loco-regional control, recurrence, metastasis, survival and quality of life; and treatment-related morbidity assessment covering early and late radiation morbidity, the morbidities of combined treatment and the grading systems. |
| Unit-III — Clinical Chemotherapy | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Basic principles and clinical practice of chemotherapy | Classification of chemotherapy drugs; newer chemotherapeutic agents; clinical application of single drug therapy, polychemotherapy and the various combinations, adjuvant therapy and prophylactic therapy; chemotherapy practice in the various malignancies; chemotherapy practice, results and toxicities in sequential and concomitant chemoradiotherapy; and supportive care for chemotherapy. |
| Principles underlying the use of chemotherapeutic agents | Classification and mode of action of cytotoxic drugs, the principles of cell kill, drug resistance and phase and cycle specific action; drug administration — the general principles of pharmacokinetics and the factors affecting drug concentration in vivo including route and timing, activation, plasma concentration, metabolism and clearance; principles of combination therapy, dose-response curves, adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy, sanctuary sites, high dose and regional chemotherapy; toxicity of drugs — early, intermediate and late genetic and somatic effects of the common classes and the precautions in the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs; endocrine manipulation and biological response modifiers, including the mode of action and side effects of the common hormonal preparations and of interferons, interleukins and growth factors; the assessment of new agents and the principles of Phase I, II and III studies; and gene therapy. |
| Immunotherapy | Clinical application and uses in the various malignant conditions, with its toxicity and the management of that toxicity. |
| Unit-IV — Allied disciplines | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Allied disciplines | Principles and practice of general surgery, gynaecology and paediatric surgery as related to cancer; the basic principles of surgical oncology — biopsy, conservation surgery, radical surgery and palliative surgery; methods of clinical staging and the TNM classification; the basics of surgical technique in head and neck, breast, thorax, abdomen, gynaecological, genitourinary, musculoskeletal and CNS cancer; combined treatment with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy; and preventive oncology with the prevention and early detection of cancer. |
| Unit-V — Palliative Care | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Palliative care | Guidelines for palliative care; the symptoms of advanced cancer; management of the terminally ill; the different pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic methods; pain control with the WHO guidelines for adults and children; palliative radiotherapy and palliative chemotherapy; home care and hospice care; and the physical, social, spiritual and other aspects. |
| Unit-VI — Research, Training and Administration | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Research and training | Research in oncology and how to conduct it; guidelines for biomedical research covering animal studies, drug studies and human trials; cancer clinical trials Phase I, II and III; the ethics of clinical research; and evidence-based medicine. |
| Administration | Administration of radiotherapy and oncology; the clinical oncologist's role as an administrator; how to set up a radiotherapy and oncology department with the planning of infrastructure and equipment; cancer registry and epidemiology; the role in the cancer control programme and cancer screening programmes; and responsibilities towards safety and quality assurance. |
| Special topics | Oncological emergencies; total lymphoid irradiation, extracorporeal irradiation and total body irradiation — their role and techniques; radiation treatment of benign diseases and tumour-like conditions; preventive oncology; and the new radiation modalities — proton therapy, neutron therapy, pion therapy, high energy heavy ion therapy such as carbon, and hyperthermia. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Anaesthesiology — 12 numbered topics, on pages 85 to 86 ↑
Twelve numbered topics, and the specialities are gathered inside a single entry rather than spread across units — entry 4 alone covers paediatric, cardiothoracic, neurosurgical, orthopaedic, minimally invasive, day care, ENT, ophthalmic, dental, obstetric and geriatric anaesthesia.
The last four entries are the ones that separate a prepared candidate from a clinical one: monitoring and awareness, medicolegal aspects and record keeping, life support, and research methodology with statistics.
| No. | Topic as the syllabus lists it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic sciences as applied to anaesthesiology, including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physics and chemistry. |
| 2 | Principles and practice of anaesthesia and analgesia with anaesthetic management; clinical science in relation to anaesthesiology, which includes the essentials of internal medicine and surgery. |
| 3 | Pre-anaesthetic evaluation and treatment; the anaesthetic implications of concurrent diseases; anaesthetic complications; post-operative management; the post-anaesthesia care unit. |
| 4 | Specialities: paediatric anaesthesia; cardiovascular and thoracic anaesthesia; neurosurgical anaesthesia; general and orthopaedic surgery, minimally invasive surgery and day care surgery; ENT, ophthalmic and dental surgery and anaesthesia for neurological and psychiatric disease; obstetrics and gynaecology with labour analgesia; and geriatric anaesthesia. |
| 5 | Regional anaesthesia. |
| 6 | Anaesthesia for organ transplantation, laser surgery and endoscopic surgery; anaesthesia outside the operating room. |
| 7 | Anaesthesiology and pain management; critical care medicine; ventilators; polytrauma; disaster medicine. |
| 8 | Monitoring in anaesthesiology; the use of electronic and computer devices in anaesthesia; awareness during anaesthesia. |
| 9 | Recent advances and current concepts in anaesthesia and analgesia. |
| 10 | Medicolegal aspects in relation to anaesthesiology; anaesthesia record keeping and quality assurance. |
| 11 | Basic and advanced life support. |
| 12 | Basics of research methodology and statistics. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — 15 units, on pages 86 to 89 ↑
Fifteen units, and the discipline is defined by its breadth rather than its depth: a single unit, Unit-XI, lists rehabilitation for nerve injury, brain injury, stroke, parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis, muscle disease, cerebral palsy, polio, cardiac and pulmonary disease, cancer, bladder and bowel dysfunction, HIV/AIDS and neural tube defects.
The administrative and legal units are not optional extras here — disability legislation, functional evaluation, impairment rating, certification guidelines and the government schemes for persons with disabilities are named in Unit-XIV.
| Unit | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I | Basic anatomy and physiology of the musculoskeletal system including biomechanics, and of the urogenital, cardio-pulmonary and nervous systems; the basic pathological processes causing disease, disability and healing; basic principles of pharmacology as applied to PMR; the philosophy, history, scope and need of PMR; basic concepts — definitions, the rehabilitation team and the role and responsibilities of its members; organisation and administration of PMR services; the disability process — impairment, disability and the international classifications; and disability prevention with its levels and examples. |
| Unit-II | Biochemical aspects of calcium and vitamin D metabolism, osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus; principles of the diagnostic modalities used in PMR, laboratory and radiological; principles of evaluation and rehabilitation management of social and of vocational problems; gait analysis — terminology, types and clinical applications; electrodiagnostic medicine — basic principles, clinical methods and interpretation; outcome measures in PMR; impairment rating and disability evaluation; community based rehabilitation; and rehabilitation nursing with its principles and management. |
| Unit-III | Therapeutic exercises — principles, types, indications and contraindications; physical agents and modalities; manipulation, traction and massage; and electrical stimulation — each with its principles, types, indications, contraindications and precautions. |
| Unit-IV | Principles and scope of occupational therapy; the rationale of activities of daily living in various conditions; integrative medicine and PMR; and mobility aids, wheelchairs and seating systems. |
| Unit-V | Upper limb orthotic devices including splints; lower limb orthotic devices including footwear modification; spinal orthoses — each with principles, types, materials and indications; and upper and lower limb prosthetics with amputee rehabilitation. |
| Unit-VI | Low back pain and PMR; neck pain and shoulder pain; the various musculoskeletal disorders with their evaluation, diagnosis, management and rehabilitation; and pain, acute and chronic — its pathophysiology, pathway, evaluation, management and rehabilitation. |
| Unit-VII | Holistic management and rehabilitation of persons with arthritis including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis; spinal deformity; osteoporosis; burns injury; and haemophilia. |
| Unit-VIII | Spinal cord injury, traumatic and non-traumatic: aetiology, pathophysiology, mechanism of injury, radiological imaging, evaluation, the acute and chronic complications and their management, and rehabilitation management. |
| Unit-IX | The various types of wounds, their management and rehabilitation; rehabilitation of persons with obesity and dyslipidemia and after arthroplasty, POP cast, fracture treatment and surgical intervention; principles of sports medicine with the diagnosis, evaluation, prevention and management of sports injuries; and the basic principles of rehabilitative surgery such as deformity correction in poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, club foot and contractures, revision of the amputation stump, pressure sore and tendon transfer. |
| Unit-X | The various joint and soft tissue injection techniques, with or without image guidance — indications, contraindications, principles, procedure, advantages, disadvantages and the rationale of the procedure; the various nerve blocks and myoneural blocks in rehabilitation medicine; botulinum injection; and the various plaster techniques in PMR. |
| Unit-XI | Holistic rehabilitation of persons with plexus or nerve injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis, ataxia and other movement and neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, autonomic disorders, neuropathy, Bell's palsy, Hansen's disease, muscle diseases such as myopathy, motor neuron disease and myasthenia gravis, cerebral palsy, spasticity, poliomyelitis and its sequelae, cardiovascular disease such as CAD, MI, CABG surgery, angioplasty and cardiac transplantation, peripheral vascular disease, pulmonary disease such as COPD, bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis, obstetric and gynaecological disorders, cancer, swallowing disorder, bladder and bowel dysfunction, vertigo, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, and neural tube defects such as meningomyelocele and hydrocephalus. |
| Unit-XII | Paediatric rehabilitation including children with autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities and multiple disabilities; geriatric rehabilitation; and the principles of evaluation and rehabilitation management of persons with visual impairment, mental retardation, hearing or speech impairment, and psychological problems or mental illness. |
| Unit-XIII | Medical and surgical emergencies in PMR; sexuality and disability; and rehabilitation of persons after organ transplantation and in the ICU setting. |
| Unit-XIV | Evidence-based medicine and PMR; legislation relating to disability, national and international; functional evaluation, impairment rating, disability evaluation and certification including the guidelines for these; and the schemes and benefits extended to persons with disabilities by the government. |
| Unit-XV | Barrier-free environment and access related issues; computers in PMR; assistive technology; recent advances; ethical aspects in rehabilitation; and research methodology. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Dentistry — 13 units, on pages 89 to 92 ↑
Thirteen units, and the first five of them are the basic sciences — anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology and pharmacology — read specifically for dental practice. The clinical branches begin only at Unit-VI.
Unit-IX is the largest single unit and it merges three subjects that are usually taught apart: oral medicine, oral radiology and oral pathology, with forensic odontology inside it.
| Unit | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Unit-I — Anatomy | Detailed anatomy and osteology of the head and neck; study of the cranial nerves in detail, with the extracranial course of the 5th and 7th. |
| Unit-II — Biochemistry | Biochemistry applied to dental science; the basic chemistry and fate of haemoglobin; blood groups; WBC types, number, variations, function, formation and circulation; vitamins. |
| Unit-III — Physiology | Pituitary gland — hormones, actions and abnormal function; acute and chronic inflammation and wound repair; haemorrhage, shock and syncope; circulatory disturbance and hypertension; medical emergencies in dental practice; congenital and rheumatic heart disease; anaemia, coagulation defects and bleeding diseases; allergy and drug reactions. |
| Unit-IV — Microbiology | Introduction to bacteriology with special reference to medical and dental bacteriology; immunity and immunizing agents. |
| Unit-V — Pharmacology | Cardiovascular drugs, vasopressor agents and the treatment of shock; drugs acting on blood — anticoagulants, coagulants and haematinics; antiseptics and astringents; antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. |
| Unit-VI — Prosthodontics | Principles and techniques of impression making in complete dentures, RPD and FPD; principles of retention and stability; jaw relations and the methods of registration; processing and finishing of complete dentures; immediate complete and partial dentures; the components of a removable partial denture and their functions; surveyors and mouth preparation; designing of removable partial dentures; acrylic partial denture; the principle of tooth reduction; surgical retractors; selection and fabrication of pontic and retainer; the aims and scope of the science of dental materials; and the important physical properties of dental materials including their biological considerations. |
| Unit-VII — Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics | Filling materials for both adults and children; the rationale, care and sterilization of endodontic instruments; treatment of vital and non-vital pulp; surgical treatment in endodontics; bleaching of teeth. |
| Unit-VIII — Oral Surgery | Local anaesthetic drugs; the use of antibiotics in oral surgery; open and closed reduction of fractures; dental impaction; dental implants; impacted teeth and fracture of jaws; oral surgical complications and their management. |
| Unit-IX — Oral Medicine, Radiology and Oral Pathology | Salivary glands and their diseases; dental anatomy; developmental disturbances of oral structures; osteomyelitis; dental caries and its sequelae; enamel, dentin, pulp, cementum, PDL and bone; bacterial and fungal infection; AIDS; basics of oral radiology; the effects of nutritional disturbance on oral structures; the oral mucous membrane; infections of oral and para-oral structures; cysts and neoplasms of the oral cavity; precancerous lesions with their aetiology, pathology and treatment; TMJ diseases and their management; effects of radiation on oral and para-oral structures; oral microbiology; blood dyscrasias and their management; forensic odontology; impacted teeth and fracture of jaws; and oral surgical complications and their management. |
| Unit-X — Orthodontics | Normal occlusion and its characteristics; malocclusion — type, classification and aetiology. |
| Unit-XI — Pedodontics | Development of the jaws and their growth; development of the teeth and surrounding structures and the calcification of hard tissues including the theories; eruption and shedding of teeth; age changes in teeth and the surrounding structures; psychology — psychological development from birth to adolescence and the management of the child in the dental office; treatment of traumatized teeth; mouth habits and their management; and the importance of the first permanent molar and splints. |
| Unit-XII — Public Health Dentistry | Norms for potability, purification of water and disposal of wastes; introduction, definition, objectives and functions of the public health dentist; school and dental public health programmes; ethics in the Dental Council of India and the Indian Dental Association. |
| Unit-XIII — Periodontics | Classification of gingival and periodontal disturbances; gingival enlargement; the local and systemic factors causing gingival and periodontal lesions; periodontitis and its sequelae; prognosis and treatment of all gingival and periodontal disturbances; treatment planning, its phases and rationale; the different therapeutic measures available; preventive periodontics; and the concept of focal infection. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Blood Bank — 19 units, on pages 92 to 98 ↑
Nineteen units, and only about half of them are laboratory science. The rest are service and system topics — organisation and management of transfusion services, total quality management, biosafety, medicolegal considerations and automation and computerisation.
Two named statutes sit inside the medicolegal unit — the Drugs and Cosmetics Act with accreditation, and the Consumer Protection Act — and the look back programme and donor notification are named alongside them.
| Unit | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| I — History of transfusion medicine | The scientific landmarks in its development, the impact of the world wars, and the development of PVC bags. |
| II — Scientific basis of transfusion | Biochemistry and physiology of the elements of blood: cell production and life span of red cells, white cells and platelets; red cells — haemoglobin structure and function, metabolic pathways, membrane structure and function; white cells and platelets — structure, function and kinetics; physiology of haemostasis with the role of platelets, coagulation pathways and fibrinolysis; haemodynamics of blood flow and volume; iron and bilirubin metabolism. Immunology: principles of basic immunology — antigen, antibody, complement, immunoglobulin, antigen-antibody reaction, lymphocytes in humoral and cellular immunity; the role of hybridoma technology in immunohaematology; immunology of transplantation; HLA and the genetic control of the immune response. Genetics: principles of basic genetics and the genetics of blood groups — phenotype and genotype, principles of blood group inheritance and the population genetics of blood groups. |
| III — Antigen systems in the formed elements | Red cell antigens, leucocyte antigens and platelet antigens. |
| IV — Blood collection, processing and component preparation | Management of blood donation: donor recruitment, voluntary blood donation systems, categories of donors, education, awareness and information of the prospective donor, use of information technology for recruitment, donor information programmes, acceptability criteria, care of the donor before, during and after donation, and the prevention and management of complications; blood collection with its anticoagulants, preservatives, procedure and donation camps. Blood components: types, methods of preparation, indications, dosage and administration; leucodepletion and its methods; quality control; storage of whole blood, red cell concentrate, plasma, granulocytes and cryoprecipitate; stem cells — peripheral blood stem cell, cord blood and dendritic cell; and plasma fractionation with viral inactivation, single donor and pooling and the newer methods. |
| V — Pre-transfusion testing | Compatibility testing: ABO grouping and Rh typing, antibody screening, crossmatching methods and the newer methods including solid phase and gel technology; screening for transfusion transmitted infections with its methodology, nucleic acid amplification techniques and the newer emerging pathogens; and the selection of blood, components and plasma products for transfusion. |
| VI — Adverse effects of blood transfusion | Clinical presentation, pathophysiology, investigation and management of haemolytic and non-haemolytic transfusion reactions; allergic, anaphylactoid and anaphylactic reactions; alloimmunization to the various elements of blood; transfusion transmitted bacterial, viral and parasitic infections; transfusion associated graft versus host disease; transfusion related acute lung injury; and others including haemosiderosis, volume overload and post-transfusion purpura. |
| VII — Apheresis | The technology of apheresis with the various equipment and disposables; haemapheresis for platelets, granulocytes, plasma and stem cells with donor selection, procedure and complications; therapeutic apheresis with its indications, procedure and complications; plasma exchange and red cell exchange; and the newer methods of immunoadsorption. |
| VIII — Autologous transfusion | Basic principles, indications and contraindications; pre-deposit; haemodilution; intraoperative blood salvage including the equipment; post-operative blood salvage; and directed donation. |
| IX — Antenatal and neonatal transfusion practice | Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of Rh incompatibility and of ABO and other blood group incompatibility; exchange transfusion with its indications, methodology and complications; neonatal transfusion practice; strategies to reduce donor exposure; organised donor selection; and intrauterine transfusion. |
| X — Immunohaematology | Classification, diagnosis and management of immune haemolytic anaemia, immune thrombocytopenia and immune neutropenia, and the immunohaematological problems of multi-transfused patients. |
| XI — Haemotherapy | Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of anaemia — iron deficiency, megaloblastic, aplastic, anaemia of chronic disease, neonatal anaemia and the hereditary anaemias including thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia and enzymopathy; pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of haemostatic disorders — haemophilia, von Willebrand disease, qualitative and quantitative platelet disorders, DIC, TTP, HIT and the acquired disorders; pathophysiology, diagnosis and transfusion support in acute blood loss — shock, massive transfusion and transfusion support in general and specialised surgery such as cardiopulmonary bypass and haemodialysis; and classification, diagnosis and transfusion support in haemopoietic and non-haemopoietic malignancy. |
| XII — Transplantation | Transfusion support in transplantation; stem cell transplantation — harvesting, cryopreservation, CD34 counting and quality control and infusion; bone marrow transplantation — harvesting and processing, the immunohaematological problems of ABO mismatched BMT and transfusion support for BMT patients; transfusion support in renal and liver transplantation; irradiation of blood products with its indications, dosage and adverse effects; and the tissue centre and cord blood centre. |
| XIII — Blood substitutes and haemopoietic agents | Crystalloids and colloids, oxygen carrying compounds, the use of haematinics, haemopoietic growth factors and plasma products. |
| XIV — Medicolegal considerations | Ethical and legal considerations in transfusion practice; identification of blood stains; paternity testing; donor notification and counselling; the look back programme; the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and accreditation; and the Consumer Protection Act. |
| XV — Total quality management | Development of the standard operating procedures manual; quality control of reagents and diagnostic kits, instruments, personnel and blood and components; quality assurance with internal and external quality control and proficiency testing; the hospital transfusion committee; medical audit; turnaround time; and ISO certification and GMP. |
| XVI — Organization and management of transfusion services | Organisation and function of blood services and hospital transfusion practice; recruitment and motivation; operation of the blood mobile; development of the transfusion service; inventory control; and the development of forms, labels and records. |
| XVII — Biosafety | Personnel, laboratory and equipment safety, sterilization and the disposal of waste material. |
| XVIII — Modern biological techniques | Principle, methods and relevance in transfusion medicine of western blot, polymerase chain reaction, SSCP, SSOP and dot blot hybridization; animal experiments and museum techniques; microarrays; proteomics; and the other new techniques in transfusion medicine. |
| XIX — Automation and computerisation | Instrumentation; automated blood grouping and processing; automated infectious screening; the use of barcodes; the use of computers; and the laboratory and hospital information system. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Hospital Administration — four parts and 36 topics, pages 98 to 105 ↑
This syllabus is printed as a table of topics against contents, and it is closer to an MBA syllabus than a medical one for its first fourteen entries: management theory, planning, organisation structure, office procedure, communication, personnel management, organisational behaviour, finance, materials, risk, information systems, operations research and marketing.
Part II brings it back to health — epidemiology, biostatistics, health economics and the law — and Part IV is the operational half of the job, listing the clinical and non-clinical services of a hospital one by one, down to the mortuary, the laundry and the fire fighting service.
| Part I — General Administration and Management | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Development of the management concept | History and growth of management science; traditional versus modern management; evolution of management theory; management as a profession; ethics in management. |
| 2 — Management functions and tools | Management levels and skills; functions and principles of management; challenges to a manager; the systems approach; the role of the executive; management tools; styles of management; committees. |
| 3 — Fundamentals of planning and decision making | Hierarchy and types of plans; steps in planning; managerial decision making. |
| 4 — Organisation structure | Organisational design and function; hospital organisation; matching structure and strategy; functional organization; line and staff authority; delegation and decentralisation. |
| 5 — Office procedure and disciplinary proceedings | Definition of office and office procedures; drafting of official letters; service rules and procedure; conduct rules; disciplinary proceedings. |
| 6 — Communication | Basic concepts; types of communication; barriers to communication; principles of good communication; communication in healthcare. |
| 7 — Personnel management and human resource development | Definition and importance; work study and method study; manpower planning; recruitment and selection; job analysis, description, evaluation and enrichment; training and development; performance appraisal; grievance redressal; absenteeism. |
| 8 — Organisational behaviour and group dynamics | Basics of sociology, anthropology and psychology; characteristics of work groups; OB labs; the dynamics of organisational behaviour; motivation and leadership; conflict management; transactional analysis; team building; change management; the Johari window; grievance redressal systems. |
| 9 — Financial management | GDP, GNP and national economic policies; budgeting and types of budget; working capital and cash flow analysis; financial statements and ratios; balance sheets; elements of cost and cost accounting; fixed assets and depreciation; break even analysis, cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis; financial management in hospitals; cost containment in hospitals. |
| 10 — Material management | Importance of material management; the theory of demand and supply; inventory control; the purchase cycle; the tender system; economic order quantity, safety stock and lead time; receipt and inspection of stores; distribution, standardisation and codification; condemnation and disposal; stores documentation; equipment audit; logistics and supply chain management; the role of computers in stores management. |
| 11 — Risk management | Ergonomics and its application in hospitals; occupational hazards; the Workmen's Compensation Act; the definition, scope and importance of industrial relations. |
| 12 — Information system | Information system analysis and design; HMIS as a tool of managerial control. |
| 13 — Modern management techniques | Quantitative methods of management; operations research techniques and their application in healthcare; management by objective. |
| 14 — Marketing management | The concept of marketing; marketing strategies, evaluation and control; marketing information and research; market and medical ethics; the social aspects of marketing; privatization of health; public private partnership; outsourcing; medical tourism; corporate social responsibility. |
| Part II — Healthcare and Health Administration | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Development of health services in India | Evaluation of healthcare services; the definition and dimensions of health; review of the different reports on healthcare. |
| 2 — Medical sociology | Sociological perspectives of health, illness and healing. |
| 3 — Health and disease | The concept of health and disease; the concept of wellbeing; the natural history of disease and the role of hospitals at the various levels of prevention. |
| 4 — Research methodology in health and hospital administration | The concept of health indicators; types of surveys; selecting a problem and making a hypothesis; writing the research protocol; determining objectives; bibliographical data; sample size determination; data collection techniques and tools; questionnaires and interview technique; observation technique; analysis of data; report writing; errors of measurement. |
| 5 — National health policy | National Health Policy 2017; the role of health education and communication; health committees; national health programmes; the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| 6 — Biostatistics | The concept of biostatistics; presentation of data; frequency distribution; measures of central tendency and of dispersion; sampling and sampling error; testing of hypothesis; tests of significance. |
| 7 — Epidemiology | Evolution and uses of epidemiology; definitions and terminology; the natural history of disease and the role of the hospital at the various levels of prevention; types of epidemiology; methods of epidemiological study; socio-economic status and occupation as determinants of disease distribution; cause and effect relationship; the epidemiology of hospital infection; the epidemiology of non-communicable disease, trauma and road traffic accidents, diabetes and coronary artery disease; how to investigate an epidemic and the role of the hospital in its control; the common diseases in India with their epidemiology and prevention; screening and surveys; and the concept of health indicators including DALYs, QALYs, disability adjusted life expectancy and the physical quality of life index. |
| 8 — Health statistics and the health information system in India | The need for health statistics; common rates and ratios; incidence and prevalence rates; morbidity and mortality; health reports; notifiable diseases; the healthcare delivery system; ICD-10 and ICD-11. |
| 9 — Hospital utilization statistics | Community indices — bed population ratio, hospital admission rate and per capita hospitalisation rate; hospital utilisation indices — average daily census, bed occupancy rate, bed turnover rate, bed turnover interval and average length of stay. |
| 10 — Medical records | Definition, historical background, types of medical records, retention of records, computerisation of medical records, medical record audit and the medical record department. |
| 11 — Health economics | Basics of health economics; analysis of demand and supply; health insurance schemes and social security schemes such as CGHS and ESI in India; the medical care system and health insurance systems in different countries. |
| 12 — Population dynamics | Demography and family planning. |
| 13 — Ethics, laws and Acts | The code of medical ethics and the duties of physicians; legal issues in hospital administration; the laws and Acts applicable to hospitals; medicolegal cases; industrial relations and laws; patients' rights and the provider's responsibility, and medical malpractice; medical ethics and the ethical issues in end of life decisions; the dying declaration; and the importance of sections 32 and 157 of the Indian Evidence Act and the death certificate. |
| Part III — Hospital Planning and Hospital Administration | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Hospital | History and development of hospitals; definition, types, control, role and functions; hospitals in India today — their number, types, size, distribution, ownership and utilization, with the issues and trends. |
| 2 — Nursing administration | Introduction to the nursing profession; the nursing organization structure; the nurse as a social and professional entity; staffing norms in the various types of hospital and different departments; recent trends in the nursing profession. |
| 3 — Public relations in hospital | Public relations. |
| 4 — Employees welfare | Welfare schemes; occupational safety; conflict management; stress management; counselling. |
| 5 — Quality in health services | The quality concept; verifiable standards and parameters; the various quality models; total quality management; Kaizen; lean management; six sigma in healthcare; hospital and healthcare accreditation. |
| 6 — Future of hospital administration | Performance review; hospital statistics and quality control; recent trends in hospitals; the challenges to administrators; reengineering; telemedicine; artificial intelligence. |
| 7 — Hospital planning | The changing system of health services and the concept of planning, designing and space; site surveys for planning a hospital; macro and micro aspects of hospital planning; an overview of the hospital building; external architectural aspects and landscaping; internal arrangements; hospital hygiene and sanitation; lighting and HVAC; design considerations including evidence based design and the architect brief; planning and designing specialised hospitals; taking over and commissioning a new hospital; alterations and additions in an existing hospital; planning the hospital engineering services; the repair and maintenance schedule; equipment planning for a new hospital; and green buildings. |
| Part IV — Administration of clinical and non-clinical services | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — Clinical services | Outpatient services; surgical services; the operating department; paediatric, dental and maxillo-facial, psychiatric services; radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy services; accident and emergency services; hospital laboratory services; obstetrics and gynaecology services; intensive care unit; dialysis unit; day care units; bone marrow transplant unit; nuclear medicine; lithotripsy centre; physiotherapy centre; burns centre; malignant diseases treatment centre; trauma centre; geriatric services; antibiotic policy; standard precautions; spill management; and occupational hazards and safety in healthcare. |
| 2 — Non-clinical services and administrative procedure | Enquiry and registration; the admission office; inspection and the Medical Superintendent's rounds; hospital standing orders; hospital welfare services; the Indian Red Cross Society and hospitals; nursing services; ward management including welfare and recreational facilities; house-keeping including pest control; medical stores and pharmacy services; blood bank and transfusion services; the central sterile supply department; dietary services; linen and laundry services; hospital engineering services; fire fighting services; ambulance services; fatal documents; mortuary; equipment management; intramural and extramural transportation; biomedical and solid waste management; the hospital information system; structural requirements for infection control; the hospital formulary and essential drugs list; patient feedback and discharge procedure; disaster management; fire safety; hospital safety and security; enterprise resource planning; and hospital media relations and marketing, and non-profit organizations. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
Medical Record Officer — 10 topic blocks, on pages 106 to 108 ↑
This post is not a clinical one, and its syllabus shows it: five blocks of basic medical science read at an introductory level, then the three that actually define the job — medical coding, medical terminology and medical record practice — and then hospital administration and statistics.
The coding block is the most specific part of the whole entry. It names ICD-10 volume by volume, the dagger and asterisk dual codes, the difference between the ninth and tenth revisions, the ICF, and the separate rule sets for mortality and morbidity coding.
| Block | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| A — Anatomy | General introduction: definitions of anatomy and physiology, the types of anatomy including systemic, the topographic terms used to describe the body and a description of the various regions; cells and tissues of the body and general histology; and the anatomical description of skin and breast, osteology, joints, ligaments, fasciae and bursae, the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, lymphatic, urogenital, endocrine and digestive systems, blood and the blood forming organs, the organs of special sense, and embryology. |
| B — Physiology | Introductory lectures on the specialization of tissues; homeostasis and its importance in mammals; the blood and lymphatic system; the cardiovascular system; the excretory system, skin and temperature regulation; the respiratory system; the digestive system and metabolism; endocrinology; the reproductive system; the nervous system; the special senses; and muscles. |
| C — Pathology | Introduction to clinical pathology with the definition and classification of diseases, and the classification of the various types of clinical lesions and tumours, benign and malignant. |
| D — Microbiology | Introduction to the subject; modes of transmission of disease; the principle of immunodiagnosis; and the principles of laboratory diagnosis of bacterial, parasitic, viral and fungal infection. |
| E — Biochemistry | Definition of biochemistry; an elementary overview of sugars, proteins and lipids and their metabolism; the constituents of blood including enzymes and their variation in disease; the composition of CSF, ascitic fluid and pleural fluid in disease; functional tests such as LFT, GTT, AHT and the clearance tests of kidney function; investigations such as radioactive iodine uptake, radioimmunoassay, protein bound iodine, pH, PO2 and PCO2; basic knowledge of vitamin deficiency and endocrine diseases; and the normal and abnormal constituents of urine. |
| F — Medical coding | The meaning and definition of coding; the structure of ICD-10 volumes 1, 2 and 3, including dual codes for dagger and asterisk and the conventions used in ICD-10; the proper use of the index and how to use the coding books; the difference between the ninth and tenth revisions; the family of classifications and the health classifications, including the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF); the history of the development of ICD; the rules for mortality coding including the modification rules and the rules for morbidity coding, with a coding rules summary, coding exercises and a summary of the ICD-10 coding notes. |
| G — Medical terminology | Definition, objectives and value of medical terminology; colours, symbols and numerals; prefixes, suffixes and roots; and the origin of anatomical, diagnostic, operative, radiological and clinical terms and abbreviations for the musculoskeletal, integumentary, circulatory and lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, genitourinary, endocrine and nervous systems, psychiatric disorders, obstetrics and gynaecology, and the special senses of eye and ear. |
| Medical record practice | A brief history of the medical record, its definition, characteristics and values; the contents and components of a medical record; the need for the medical record department and its functions; responsibility for the medical record — the hospital administrator, doctors, nurses and para-medical staff; organisation and management of the department, the medical record committees and medical audit committees; the origin and development of medical records including the organisation of the admission office; control and the quantitative and qualitative analysis of discharged inpatient records; numbering, filing, retrieval and storing of records; indexes and indexing control; the legal aspects of medical records — legal procedure, medical law and ethics, identification, medical autopsy, death and post-mortem changes and their medico-legal aspects with case studies; retention, preservation and destruction of records; and the organisation of outpatient medical record services. |
| Hospital administration | Definition, functions and types of hospitals; the functions of management (POSDCORB); and an introduction to the various hospital services — patient care services, supportive services, peri-institutional services and community services. |
| General statistics for the Medical Record Officer | Introduction to statistics; methods of collecting data; measures of central tendency — simple average, geometric and harmonic mean, mode and median; measures of dispersion — standard deviation, range, variance and average deviation; sampling — definition and the random, systematic, stratified and cluster methods; correlation and regression — significance, linear correlation, the correlation coefficient and linear regression; time series analysis — concept, utility and components; tests of significance; graphical presentation of data; probability — concept and definition; and the uses of statistics. |
Librarian — a General Studies paper and 10 library science blocks, pages 109 to 115 ↑
The Librarian entry is the only one in this document that begins with a separate general paper: Paper-1, General Studies and Mental Ability, with six listed topics. The ten library and information science blocks that follow it are unnumbered headings.
Read the printed wording carefully before you plan. Paper-1 asks for the history of India and for geography "with a focus on AP", the library movement block names Andhra Pradesh, the professional associations include APLA, and the legislation block asks for a detailed study of the A.P. Public Library Act. Those are the words the Jammu and Kashmir document prints, and we have not silently corrected them; a candidate should prepare the Indian material in full, treat the state-specific parts as pointing at the recruiting state's own library legislation and movement, and ask JKPSC for a clarification if the distinction would change how they revise.
| Paper-1 — General Studies and Mental Ability | Topic as the syllabus lists it |
|---|---|
| 1 | General Science: contemporary developments in science and technology and their implications, including matters of everyday observation and experience, as may be expected of a well-educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific discipline. |
| 2 | Current events of national and international importance. |
| 3 | History of India — a broad general understanding of the subject in its social, economic, cultural and political aspects, with a focus (as the document prints it) on AP and the Indian National Movement. |
| 4 | World geography and the geography of India, with a focus (as printed) on AP. |
| 5 | Indian polity and economy, including the country's political system, rural development, and planning and economic reforms in India. |
| 6 | Mental ability, reasoning and inferences. |
| Library and information science block | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| Library, information and society | Philosophy and ethics of librarianship; ancient and modern libraries; the library as a social institution and its functions; the role of the library in formal and informal education; user studies and user education; professional education and librarianship and library education in India; the five laws of library science; types of libraries — national, public, academic and special, with the National Library Kolkata, the National Science Library and the State Central Library; the library movement in India and (as printed) in Andhra Pradesh; library cooperation, resource sharing programmes and library consortia in India; professional associations — IFLA, ALA, ILA, IASLIC, IATLIS, APLA and ALSD with their objectives, functions and activities; organizations — NASSDOC, DESIDOC, UNESCO and NISCAIR; legislation — its need, purpose and advantages, library legislation in India, a detailed study of the A.P. Public Library Act and an overview of the library Acts in India; intellectual property rights and the Copyright Act; the Delivery of Books Act; the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto; the nature of information — data, information and knowledge, the nature, types, characteristics, properties, use and value of information, information explosion, information society, information science and the information industry; information communication — the information cycle, types and models of communication, scientific communication, formal and informal channels, barriers, and information literacy; economics of information — information needs, information seeking behaviour and the marketing of information; knowledge management and digital libraries — knowledge, document and content management, digital libraries, institutional repositories, e-learning and the virtual library; and informetrics — citation and citation analysis, librametry, bibliometrics, scientometrics, webometrics and the bibliometric laws of Zipf, Bradford and Lotka. |
| Library classification | Meaning, need and purpose of classification; normative principles; the five laws of library science; the formation, structure and development of subjects; a brief study of the major schemes — Decimal Classification and Universal Decimal Classification; the general theory of classification and Ranganathan's contribution; main class, canonical class and basic class; the five fundamental categories (PMEST); isolates — common isolates and their kinds, special isolates and auxiliary schedules; the principles of helpful sequence; types of notation; the canons for classification; and the call number — class number, book number and its types, and collection number. |
| Library cataloguing | Objectives and functions of the library catalogue; types of catalogue — physical and inner forms; the different types of catalogue entries and their functions; subject cataloguing and the lists of subject headings LCSH and SLSH; centralised cataloguing; union catalogues — definition, use and functions; OPAC and web based catalogues; use of the internet in cataloguing; OCLC and WorldCat; standardization in cataloguing and the standards ISBD (M), ISBD (S) and ISBD (G); and the filing and arrangement of catalogue entries. |
| Management of library and information centres | Functions and principles of management and their application in libraries; scientific management; routine and workflow in the different libraries and sections; principles and theories of book selection; selection and acquisition, book selection tools and online bookshops; technical processing; open versus closed access and the principles of stacking; circulation — charging and discharging methods including the day-book, ledger, Browne and Newark systems; planning of library buildings; reference and information services; serials management, methods of recording and the problems of serials acquisition; methods of stock verification; types of library records; library statistics — purpose and types; types of library committees and their functions; library rules and regulations; public relations, publicity and extension activities; schools and styles of management; planning library and information centres including the planning process and SWOT analysis; performance evaluation; management information systems; project management and organisational planning; Gantt charts and PERT/CPM; management by objectives; decision making; delegation of authority with responsibility and accountability and its guidelines and barriers; human resource management — HR planning, staffing, job analysis, description and evaluation, recruitment, selection, training and development and interpersonal relations; motivation and its theories; management of change — impact, strategies and organisation culture; financial management — resource mobilisation, budgeting methods including PPBS and zero-based, budgetary control, cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis, cost accounting and outsourcing; and quality management in library and information centres — quality audit, customer satisfaction against quality management, ISO-9000 and TQM. |
| Reference and information sources and services | Reference service — ready reference and long range reference service, the reference process, reference service against information service, current awareness service, SDI and referral service, information sources and the evaluation of reference sources; reference sources — dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, yearbooks, directories, handbooks, manuals, news summaries, concordances, biographical and geographical information sources and electronic resources; bibliography — general, special, national (INB and BNB), trade and subject bibliographies and their preparation; bibliographic control with UBC and UAP; abstracting services — types and the parts of an abstract; and indexing services and products including citation indexes. |
| Information technology | Components of IT; hardware developments; software — operating systems, single and multi user, and types of application software; client-server technology and the different types of servers; communication technology — telecommunications, modem, switching systems (circular, message and PSS), gateways, ethernet, hubs and switches, communication media, bandwidth, multiplexing and ISDN; electronic information — electronic and digital information, digital collections, digital rights management, digitization and the software and hardware used for it, image formats (JPEG, GIF, BMP), audio formats (MPEG, MP3, WAV), e-documents, the preservation and archiving of e-resources, weblogs, wikis and Wikipedia; communication tools and techniques — fax, e-mail, tele and video conferencing, voice mail, hypertext and hypermedia, listserv and electronic groups, open source and proprietary software, digital standards, protocols, formats and interoperability, wireless communication including networking, WAP, WLL and cellular communication, and data communication concepts — parallel and serial, simplex, half duplex and full duplex; and internet communication — its features and developments, types of connectivity, and data security including viruses and security methods. |
| Information retrieval systems | Information storage and retrieval systems — components and IR tools, information analysis, repackaging and consolidation, content creation and development; indexing — principles and general theory, content analysis, indexing languages, their types and characteristics, thesaurus, pre and post-coordinate indexing, chain indexing, PRECIS, uniterm, keyword and citation indexing and computer based indexing systems; standards for bibliographic description — ISBDs, MARC, CCF and MARC 21; metadata — the features of MARC and Dublin Core; data mining and data warehousing; the digital object identifier; information retrieval — manual and automated methods, search processes and strategies, Boolean logic, preparation of a query, search tools including search engines and meta-search engines, subject directories and guides, and the criteria for evaluating IR systems; and computerized information services — machine translation, computerized abstracting and natural language processing. |
| Research methodology | Basic concepts — validity, reliability, objectivity, subjectivity and variables, logic and intuition; basic and applied research, team research and relay research; the scientific method and LIS research in India; research design — problem identification and formulation; hypothesis — formulation, types and verification; methods of research — survey, descriptive, comparative, historical, experimental, case study and the Delphi technique; types of data, primary and secondary; data collection methods — questionnaire, interview and observation, and historical or recorded secondary data; sampling methods — probability sampling (simple random, systematic, stratified), non-probability sampling (quota, accidental, purposive, incomplete), cluster and multi-stage sampling and sample size; methods and tools of data analysis — problem measure, reliability and validity, descriptive statistics with mean, median, mode and standard deviation, graphical presentation by bar diagram, pie chart, line graphics and histogram, inferential statistics, measures of association, the coefficient of correlation and the testing of hypothesis by chi-square and t test; and writing the research report — contents, presentation of findings, style sheets and the citation of print, electronic and internet resources. |
| Information systems and programmes | Information organisation as a system — basic concepts, components, types and characteristics; kinds of information systems — libraries, documentation centres, information centres, data banks, information analysis centres, referral centres, clearing houses, archives and reprographic and translation centres with their functions and services; planning and design of a national information system — NAPLIS, NATIS and the National Information Policy; national information systems — NISCAIR, DESIDOC, NASSDOC, SENDOC, CORD, NCSI, NISSAT and ENVIS; regional information systems — ASTINFO, APINESS and SAARC (SDC); global information systems — UNESCO-PGI, INIS, AGRIS, INSPEC and MEDLARS; information products and services — their types with examples, products against services, and bibliographic, document delivery and alert services; and information providers such as DIALOG, STN, Derwent, UMI, BLDSC and ISI. |
| Library automation and networking | Computers — functions and how a computer works, general computer terminology, analog and digital signals, transmission media, types and generations of computers, data and information, data representation and file organization; components of computers — hardware, input and output devices, storage devices and ports, types of software, program, algorithm and flow charting, optical storage devices (CD and DVD), multimedia, data processing (batch, online and time sharing), programming languages (machine, assembly and higher level), operating systems (DOS and Windows) and application software (MS-Word, MS-Access); networking concept and types; the internet — browsing, browsers, services, facilities, WWW and URL; computers in library and information centres; library automation — areas of automation, hardware and software selection and implementation, barcode technology with dumb or generic and smart barcodes and Code 39, and RFID; networking — concept, need and advantages, the basic components of a network, network topologies (star, ring, bus, hierarchical, tree and complete), wireless networking, types of networks (LAN, MAN, WAN), general networks (ERNET, NICNET, INFONET) and library networks (OCLC, INFLIBNET); the internet — concept, features and services, search engines and meta search engines, internet searching, web browsers, internet security, internet reference resources and the evaluation of internet information sources; protocols — TCP/IP, OSI, telnet, FTP, HTTP and Z39.50; hypertext and hypermedia and the markup languages HTML and XML; and web content development and web design with software such as Flash, Macromedia, MS-FrontPage and Dreamweaver. |
Casualty Medical Officer — 14 subject blocks, on pages 116 to 123 ↑
The last entry in the document, and the broadest: fourteen subject blocks that together ask for surgery and orthopaedics, medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, preventive and social medicine, forensic medicine and toxicology, and then anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, ENT, ophthalmology and radiology.
The numbering in the printed document slips: the number 3 is used twice — once for obstetrics and gynaecology and again for paediatrics — and there is no block numbered 6, the list going from 5 (forensic medicine) to 7 (anatomy). We have kept the printed numbers rather than renumbering them, so that this page and the PDF can be read side by side. Nothing is missing; there are fourteen blocks.
| Subject block | What the syllabus lists under it |
|---|---|
| 1 — General Surgery including Orthopaedics (35 entries) | Wound healing; fluid and electrolytes; nutritional support; wound infection, special infections and AIDS; sterilization, its methods and precautions; transplantation; tumours; skin diseases, plastic surgery and burns; arterial, venous and lymphatic disorders; accident and emergency surgery; cleft lip and palate; disorders of the salivary gland; sutures; thyroid; parathyroid and adrenal glands; breast; thorax with injuries and diseases of lung and diaphragm; heart; liver; spleen; gall bladder and bile ducts; pancreas; peritoneum, omentum, mesentery and the retroperitoneal spaces; small and large intestine; intestinal obstruction; appendix; rectum; anus and anal canal; hernias; urology; fractures; benign and malignant tumours of bone; metabolic and non-infective disorders of bones and joints; pyogenic and tubercular infection of joints; and injuries of the spine and pelvis and their management. |
| 2 — Medicine (13 entries) | Cardinal manifestations and presentation of disease; genetics; nutritional diseases; haematology; infectious diseases; diseases of the cardiovascular, respiratory, renal and urinary, and gastrointestinal systems; diseases of the immune system, connective tissue and joints; endocrinology and metabolism; neurologic disorders; and environmental and occupational hazards. |
| 3 — Obstetrics and Gynaecology (74 entries) | Obstetrics from the introduction, the development of the human placenta and embryo and the anomalies of placenta and cord, liquor amnii, the anatomical and physiological changes of pregnancy, diagnosis of pregnancy, obstetric and pelvic examination and special investigations, the role of USG and radiology, antenatal care including drugs in pregnancy, antepartum foetal surveillance in high risk pregnancy and social obstetrics; the medical disorders of pregnancy — anaemia, heart disease, diabetes and glycosuria, respiratory disease, psychiatric disorders in pregnancy and puerperium, jaundice, skin disease, urinary tract infection including asymptomatic bacteriuria and renal failure, and hypertensive disorders; antepartum haemorrhage with placenta praevia, accidental haemorrhage and the extra-placental causes, its diagnosis and management; Rh factor pathology, testing and management; multiple pregnancy, postmaturity, intrauterine growth retardation, intrauterine death and recurrent pregnancy wastage; surgical gynaecological conditions with pregnancy; abnormal position and presentation; normal, preterm, abnormal and prolonged labour; the normal pelvis and foetal skull, contracted pelvis, CPD, pelvic assessment and obstructed labour; injuries of the genital tract and urinary system, obstetrical palsy and postpartum collapse; normal puerperium and puerperal infection; neonatology; obstetrical procedures. Gynaecology from the anatomy and development of the urogenital tract, the physiology of menstruation and ovulation, history taking, examination and investigation, sex differentiation and intersexuality, amenorrhoea, infertility in both partners with the newer modalities, dysmenorrhoea, abnormal uterine bleeding, abortions, trophoblastic tumours, ectopic pregnancy, infections of the genital tract, genital prolapse and retroversion, urinary and rectal incontinence, endometriosis and adenomyosis, benign conditions and tumours, pruritus, chronic vulval dystrophies, tumours of the uterus, ovarian tumours, genital cancers, menopause, the role of USG and radiology, the pre-operative and post-operative management and complications of major gynaecological surgery, gynaecological surgery, MTP in the first and second trimester, contraception including voluntary surgical contraception, and demography. |
| 3 (as printed) — Paediatrics (11 entries) | Basic sciences as applied to paediatrics; growth and development; adolescence; clinical biostatistics; community paediatrics including the national programmes; immunization; nutritional requirements and nutritional disorders; infectious disease including parasitic infestations; respiratory, gastrointestinal, CNS, genito-urinary and haematopoietic infections in neonates, infants, children and adolescents; systemic diseases; and neonatology including antenatal paediatrics. |
| 4 — Preventive and Social Medicine (17 entries) | History of preventive and social medicine; concepts of health and disease; nutrition and health; social science and health; environment and health; occupational health; genetics and health; public health administration; demography and family planning; maternal and child health; immunity and immunization; the epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable disease; the national control and eradication programmes for specific diseases; health information systems for routine and vital health statistics; primary health care — its principles, components and levels of practice in the health care infrastructure; health education; and international health. |
| 5 — Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (24 entries) | Medicolegal examination of an injured person, of a rape victim, of sodomy, of the accused in rape and of an intoxicated person; the procedure and the essential requirements for conducting a medicolegal post-mortem; autopsy of a foetus; calculating time since death; examination of skeletal remains; the technique of viscera preservation; exhumation and post-mortem; the medicolegal duties of a doctor in a poisoned patient; the duties of a registered medical practitioner; the procedure of recording evidence; recording of firearm injuries; the forensic science laboratory; post-mortem in hanging and strangulation; age certification; medical jurisprudence; forensic psychiatry; thanatology; deliriant poisons; and firearm and bomb blast injury. |
| 7 — Anatomy (14 entries, a to n) | Cardiovascular and lymphatic system — the blood supply and lymphatic drainage of the heart; thoracic outlet syndrome; abdominal quadrants; the vermiform appendix and its positions; the difference between the male and female pelvis; the layers of the scalp; the triangles of the neck and the contents of the anterior triangle; the paranasal sinuses with their applied anatomy; the cartilages of the larynx; the names of the cranial nerves; the pharyngeal arches; the histology of cardiac muscle; the difference between thick and thin skin; and annular pancreas. |
| 8 — Physiology | Nerve and muscle — neuromuscular transmission, muscle proteins and excitation-contraction coupling; blood — anaemia and haemostasis; respiratory system — the mechanics of respiration in two parts; cardiovascular system — ECG, exercise physiology, cardiovascular reflexes and the special features of circulation in skeletal muscle and skin; gastrointestinal system — the general organization of the GI tract and the pathophysiology of diarrhoeal disease; nutrition — diet during pregnancy and lactation and during infancy and childhood; environmental physiology — man in a cold and in a hot environment; reproduction — introduction to the reproductive system; kidney — renal tubular function in two parts and micturition; and general topics — CSF, the physiology of pain, brain stem, stretch and tendon reflexes, basal ganglia, speech, the functional anatomy of the eye and of the ear with impedance matching, the auditory pathway, olfaction and the physiology of taste. |
| 9 — Biochemistry | Molecular biology and its role in clinical biochemistry — the structure and biochemical role of DNA and RNA, genomes, the basic concepts of DNA and RNA metabolism, replication, transcription and translation and the importance of their inhibitors, recombinant DNA technology and PCR and their role in medicine, gene therapy, genomics and bioinformatics; the biochemical basis of hormone action — communication among cells and tissues, the molecular mechanism of action of steroid hormones and of the hormones of pancreas, thyroid and parathyroid, signal transduction, G-protein coupled receptors and second messengers, and the role of leptins and adipocytokines; and clinical biochemistry — liver, kidney, thyroid, adrenal and pancreatic function tests, tumour markers and growth factors, the biochemical changes of pregnancy and lactation, water and electrolyte balance and imbalance, acid-base balance and its disorders, and the total quality management of laboratories with internal and external quality control and accreditation. |
| 10 — Microbiology | General bacteriology — sterilization and disinfection, culture media, antimicrobial sensitivity and bacterial genetics; systematic bacteriology — Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and mycobacteria; immunology — innate and adaptive immune responses, hypersensitivity and autoimmunity; and virology — DNA and RNA viruses, HIV and the herpes viruses. |
| 11 — Pharmacology | General pharmacology; the autonomic nervous system; the cardiovascular system; the central nervous system; and antibiotics and chemotherapy. |
| 12 — ENT (10 entries) | Complications of otitis media; otosclerosis and tympanoplasty; BERA; acoustic neuroma and other tumours of the ear; FESS and ESS; neurological affections of the larynx; hoarseness and tumours; tracheostomy; diseases and tumours of the thyroid; and the ENT manifestations of AIDS. |
| 13 — Ophthalmology (5 groups, 15 entries) | Lids — entropion, ectropion and ptosis; cornea — corneal ulcer, keratoconus and LASIK laser; lens — senile cataract, subluxated lens and multifocal IOL; retina — diabetic retinopathy, macular hole and retinal detachment; and optic nerve — optic atrophy, papilledema and the dilated pupil. |
| 14 — Radiology (7 entries) | Radiation protection and hazards; the basics of X-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI; the basics of PET and SPECT; the clinical indications and contraindications of CT, MRI and PET; contrast media, their adverse reactions and the management of those reactions; radiological investigations such as IVP, HSG and barium studies; and ultrasonography and Doppler. The discipline closes with recent advances and developments. |
How this page was built, and where it stops ↑
Every row above comes from the official PDF at jkpsc.nic.in, read page by page. The wording is ours; the scope is the document's. Where the document names a topic, that topic has a row here — nothing has been dropped as too small, and nothing has been added because it looked like it belonged.
Anatomy Unit-I to Unit-VI sit on the scanned cover page, which has no text layer. Those rows were read from a 300 dpi render of that page and then checked against the image by eye. Every other discipline was taken from the document's own text.
Where the printed document contradicts itself or carries an obvious slip — the doubled numbering in the Casualty Medical Officer list, the missing block 6, the shifted sub-numbering in 18B, the Rajasthan reference in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology entry and the Andhra Pradesh references in the Librarian paper — we have reproduced what is printed and said so in the section concerned, rather than quietly correcting it. A syllabus page that silently fixes the official document teaches you something the examiner did not print.
This page condenses. A long unit in the PDF may run to several lines of the Commission's wording and appear here as one dense row that keeps every topic it names. Read this page to know what is in your paper and to check your own coverage; open the PDF for the exact printed wording of your discipline, using the page range in the index above.
This page does not cover the Higher Education Department Assistant Professor posts, because this document does not. If you are preparing for a college teaching post in a subject like Psychology, Public Administration or English, look for your own subject's syllabus in the syllabus section of jkpsc.nic.in — those are published subject by subject, not as one combined file.
- Official document used: Syllabus for Written test (Objective Type) for various posts of Assistant Professor in Health and Medical Education Department, 123 pages, published by JKPSC at jkpsc.nic.in/Pdf/Downloader1.ashx?nid=17993&type=n
- The cover of that scan carries the handwritten note: Annexure to notification no. 30-PSC (DR-P) of 2022, Dated: 31-12-2022 (Page. 1-123)
- Always confirm against the PDF on jkpsc.nic.in before you build a study plan on any page, including this one.
Important Links
FAQ — Your Questions, Answered
Which body conducts this exam?
Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC)
Which post is this for?
Assistant Professor (Medical Education Department)
What is the selection process?
Not specified in the official syllabus document
What is the official website for this recruitment?
jkpsc.nic.in
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