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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