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Promoting the Understanding Of Prerequisites, Training, Career Opportunities, and Practice Philosophy of Osteopathic Physicians Amongst Students in the Southeastern U.S.
Iyer, H. [1]
Saravanan, S. [1]
Oquendo, G. [1]
Zarandy, J. [2]
Roberts, M. [6]

Journal: Journal of Osteopathic Medicine Date: 2024/12, 124(12):Pages: A51-A52. doi: Subito , type of study: retrospective study

Full text    (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jom-2024-2000/html)

Keywords:

medical students [679]
osteopathic medicine [2080]
retrospective study [332]
USA [1734]

Abstract:

Context: Osteopathic medicine is one of the most rapidly growing healthcare professions. Over the past five years, there has been a marked increase in the number of Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) by 30%, constituting more than 11% of physicians in the United States (US).1 Over the past decade, the number of DO students expanded by 77%, representing more than 25% of medical students today. While future projections predict a continued exponential increase of DOs, the growth is rather disproportionate within certain US regions, with the Southeast representing an area with relatively fewer DO medical schools and overall practicing DOs. Compared to their allopathic counterparts, this disproportionate representation of osteopathic physicians may be partly due to a general lack of understanding of the osteopathic profession as a career path for pre-health students at local colleges in the area. A 2021 research study conducted in New York, which has a relatively high percentage of practicing DOs, highlighted the continued need for patient education of osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) in this population. No similar study has been done to evaluate patient understanding of OMM in southeastern states. Over the past two decades, the Osteopathic Survey of HealthCare in America (OSTEOSURV) has been used to assess the general awareness of the osteopathic profession in US adults. However, this data lacks representation of young adults in their 20-30s, which is the most common age group of the pre-health and pre-medical student community. Thus, our study aimed to assess and promote the understanding of the osteopathic profession in pre-health, pre-medical, and allopathic medical students attending southeastern US schools and the related impact on their future involvement with the osteopathic profession. Objective: To determine if a brief lecture on osteopathic philosophy, prerequisites, education, and career opportunities would increase the understanding of the osteopathic profession for adults over 18 years old who identify as pre-health, pre-medical, or current allopathic medical students at southeastern U.S. schools. A secondary objective was to determine if the lecture would increase pre-health students’ interest in pursuing osteopathic medicine as a future career. Methods: This study design is a retrospective secondary analysis. The authors presented in-person and virtual lectures at varying events, including university health career fairs, open house events, and a medical conference. The lecture reviewed osteopathic and allopathic prerequisites, training, career opportunities, philosophies, and patient case examples. Student participants were asked to fill out pre- and post-surveys voluntarily to assess their level of understanding of osteopathic and allopathic medicine both before and after the lecture. A total of 151 survey responses were collected. After the exclusion criteria was applied retrospectively, which included participants under 18 years old and not identifying as either a pre-health or allopathic medical student, the finalized total number of responses included in the analysis was 101. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to conduct descriptive statistical analysis and test for assumptions within our data, where 2 outliers were identified and removed. Because the data violated our normality assumption, we proceeded with non-parametric tests for all dependent variables. Factor analysis and data reduction determined which score would be the best method to evaluate our data; we proceeded with pre-total and post-total scores as best measures, given that all items fell under one construct and these scores accounted for large variance. Results: Our null hypothesis was that the median of differences between pre-DO and post-DO scores equals zero. We rejected our null hypothesis with p<0.0.05, using the Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, which indicated a significant increase from pre-DO to post-DO scores. Based on pre-survey results, participants’ baseline knowledge of osteopathic medicine concerning prerequisites, medical training, career opportunities, and philosophy was lower than that of allopathic medicine. After the presentation, however, post-survey results demonstrated statistically significant increases in participants’ understanding of osteopathic and allopathic knowledge, with a greater increase in osteopathic scores (3.1 points) compared to allopathic scores (2.0 points). Before the presentation, 58 participants indicated their intent to pursue a career as a DO, while 57 indicated an intended career as an MD. After the presentation, post-survey results revealed 6 more participants expressed interest in becoming a DO, while 4 less participants had interest in becoming an MD. These findings may include a degree of sample bias given that participation in the study was based on voluntary enrollment of pre-health students choosing to attend a lecture including “osteopathic medicine” in the title. Conversely, our participant pool included current MD students whose answers would inadvertently favor a career in allopathic medicine. Conclusion: Overall, the findings from our study emphasize the benefit of providing appropriate educational materials promoting osteopathic medicine to pre-medical students, as it can improve understanding of and increase interest in pursuing a career as a DO. Future directions for this research will focus on expanding our study to other U.S. regions with little to no DO school representation and few practicing DOs. After increasing the power of our research, an additional step in consideration would be including pre-medical advisors to improve their comfort level in discussing osteopathic medicine with pre-medical students.

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