Osteopathic Clinical Training in Three Universities

Abstract

Osteopathic clinical medical education is similar to allopathic medical education in many ways but uniquely different in others. Some of the important differences include an emphasis on primary care, training in osteopathic manipulative medicine, and the reliance on community-based hospitals for clinical training sites.The authors explore the historical roots of osteopathic clinical training, describe the typical osteopathic clinical preparation, and discuss the challenges in delivering this clinical training. They describe the significantly different methods of delivering clinical training in three osteopathic medical schools: a traditional academic medical center, a school utilizing a statewide clinical consortium, and a school that employs a regional campus system.The authors used data from the annual survey of the 20 schools of osteopathic medicine operating in 2005-2006 to describe the typical clinical rotation experience of an osteopathic medical student and analyzed outcome data from the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam (COMLEX) Level 2-CE and COMLEX Level 2-PE for each of these three systems of clinical training. The overall success on these examinations by students from all three schools suggests that all three methods of clinical training can be successful.

Resident and Faculty Attitudes Toward Osteopathic-Focused Education

“…Osteopathic education is desirable to osteopathic medical students training in a mixed or allopathic setting. 23,24 In the current study, respondents from programs with OR had more strongly favorable attitudes toward osteopathic culture and curriculum than programs without OR. Favorable attitudes toward osteopathic training may have the potential to produce stronger osteopathic mentorship to both DO and MD residents training in an institution with OR.…”

Allopathic (MD) and Osteopathic (DO) Performance on the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Initial Certifying Examinations

“…8 Consequently, the clinical emphasis of osteopathic medicine has historically been focused on primary care, preventive medicine, musculoskeletal health, and wellness. 9 Many osteopathic medical schools have been established in smaller metropolitan or underserved areas. 6 Although specialization has significantly increased among osteopathic physicians, historically more DOs have practiced primary care specialties than their MD counterparts and many osteopathic medical schools were established with the intent of producing primary care physicians.…”

“…Although this allows for greater exposure to primary care medicine and common conditions and procedures, osteopathic students may have more limited experience during medical school training with conditions typically seen in tertiary health care centers such as organ transplants and complex medical/surgical conditions. 9 However, despite these differences in undergraduate medical education DOs perform comparably to MDs on the ABPMR initial certifying examinations.…”

Knowledge of HIV and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among medical and pharmacy students: A national, multi-site, cross-sectional study

“…This limits generalizability because they omitted osteopathic medical students who comprise approximately 25% of U.S. medical students ( American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, 2020 , Association of American Medical Colleges, 2019 ). Osteopathic medical education programs train physicians with a holistic approach to care and a focus on preventive medicine ( Shannon and Teitelbaum, 2009 , Krueger et al, 2009 ). Previous studies have also been limited to brief PrEP knowledge inventories (5–6 items) ( Bunting et al, 2020 , Przybyla et al, 2019 , Przybyla et al, 2021 ).…”