Dr. Andrew T. Still, M.D. is credited
with founding this distinctive form of medicine in
Kirksville, Missouri during the late 1800s. After
losing members of his immediate family to meningitis,
Dr. Still focused on developing a system of medical
care that would promote the body’s innate ability
to heal itself. He called his system “osteopathy”.
Today Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) provide
all the benefits of modern medicine including prescribing
medication, surgery, and the use of technology to
diagnose disease and evaluate injury. It also offers
hands-on diagnosis and treatment through a system
of therapy known as osteopathic manipulative medicine.
D.O.’s work in partnership with their patients
to consider the impact that lifestyle and community
has on the health of the individual. D.O.’s
are trained to look at the whole person and to see
the patient as more than just a collection of body
parts that may be injured or diseased. They are licensed
to practice in all 50 states and work in all types
of environments including military, surgery, aerospace
medicine and all specialty areas of medicine. Because
of the whole-person approach to medicine, about 60
% of D.O.’s practice in the primary care disciplines
of family medicine, general internal medicine, and
pediatrics. Although D.O.’s account for only
5 % of this country’s physicians, they handle
approximately 10 % of all primary care visits.
There are currently 25
osteopathic medical schools. Traditionally osteopathic
medical schools have had a reputation for “looking
beyond the numbers.” Generally, osteopathic
medical schools are looking for a variety of personal
qualities that are in line with the stated objectives
of osteopathic medicine, mainly treating the whole
person and focusing on preserving health rather than
treating disease. Osteopathic medical schools admit
a large number of non-traditional students who come
to health professions from a variety of professional
backgrounds . Approximately 20-25 % of students in
osteopathic medical schools are non-traditional .
The prerequisite courses are typically the same as
for allopathic medicine although students are encouraged
to contact individual schools for a list of required
course work. Application to osteopathic medical schools
is handled through a national services known as AACOMAS.
The first two years of osteopathic medical school
are geared toward the basic sciences, learning a basic
set of clinic examination skills and courses that
cover the various systems of the body. In addition
to all of the typical subjects you would expect, osteopathic
medical students take approximately 200 additional
hours of training in the art of osteopathic manipulative
medicine. This is a system of hands-on techniques
to alleviate pain, restore motion, support the body’s
natural functions and influence the body’s structure
to help it function more efficiently. The final two
years of medical education are the clinical clerkships.
To be licensed as an osteopathic physician, a student
must: 1) graduate from an accredited U.S. college
of osteopathic medicine, and 2) successfully complete
the Comprehensive Licensure Examination (COMLEX) Levels
I, II and III. Level I is taken after the second year
of medical school prior to the clerkship training.
Level II is taken at the end of clinical clerkship
years prior to graduating from osteopathic medical
school. Level III is taken prior to the end of the
internship year. Beginning in 2005, osteopathic medical
students must also pass the COMLEX-PE, a new examination
developed to test physical examination skills. Osteopathic
medical students to take the United States Medical
Licensure Examination (USMLE), which is used if a
student intends to pursue allopathic postgraduate
training. Following their residency training, osteopathic
physicians take certification examinations from the
specialty board that oversees their particular specialty.
For more information about osteopathic medicine training,
please visit the website of the American
Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
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