Knowledge Transfer

AOA House directs AOA to promote hands-on training of preceptors in OMT

“Something needs to be done to facilitate preceptors’ and residency directors’ understanding of OMT,” TOMA leader says.

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Preserving the distinctiveness of osteopathic medicine has been a rallying cry of the AOA House of Delegates this year. Yesterday, the House voted in favor of a resolution calling on the AOA to urge osteopathic medical schools to provide clinical preceptors with hands-on training in osteopathic manipulative treatment.

Only a small minority of DOs regularly use OMT on patients. To a large extent, some say, this is because new osteopathic physicians often lack confidence in their OMT skills, having had insufficient practice during their third- and fourth-year clinical rotations, when they may train under predominantly MD faculty or under DOs who don’t do OMT.

Though osteopathic medical schools focus on OMT during the first two years, students’ nascent manipulation skills languish over time, especially if they enter residencies accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), says Sam Tessen, the executive director of the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association (TOMA), which submitted the resolution.

“With this resolution, TOMA is trying to get on the record that something needs to be done to facilitate preceptors’ and residency directors’ understanding of OMT,” Tessen says. “If they appreciate the basics, they will be more likely to encourage students to do it and be comfortable signing off on it.”

Tessen said he envisions schools sending osteopathic manipulative medicine mentors to rotation sites, perhaps partnering with local osteopathic physicians who perform OMT.

“We also want to open up communication,” adds Tessen, “so that if individual states or schools have OMT mentorship programs that are successful, these ideas and programs can be shared.”

A Wisconsin delegate to the AOA House, Hollis H. King, DO, PhD, has been involved in establishing programs to train MD residency faculty and preceptors in the basics of OMT. “I’m happy to share what I’ve done with people in other states,” he says.

“The resolution’s primary purpose is not to get every DO to do OMT,” Tessen says. “But we want to make sure that students who are interested in OMT have the resources and guidance they need as they continue their education.”

Integrating OPP

Reacting to the ongoing negotiations with the ACGME and the rapid expansion of the osteopathic medical profession, the AOA House also unanimously approved a resolution that insists that osteopathic principles and practice always remain the foundation of the AOA, osteopathic medical schools, AOA-approved residency programs, AOA board certification, osteopathic licensure, osteopathic continuing medical education and the profession as a whole.

2 comments

  1. Ken Unice, D.O.

    Having clinical preceptors instruct in OMT will not solve the problem. It starts with better applicant selection from the pool of interested students. This effort is not easy since assessing true interest in our philosophy is difficult. Taking a less academically qualified person with sincere belief in what we do is far better than a less interested applicant. Students need to be educated in not only the gratifying rewards of the art of manipulation but the security of knowing you can always see patients needing manipulation regardless of the whims of insurance companies. Also, our national and state leadership groups need a massive PR campaign that is losing out to the chiropractic profession. Already in Pennsylvanmia, certain insurance companies are categorizing D.O.’s in the same category as chiropractors and physical therapists, even misusing our manipulative codes. I too saw limited manipulative education in postgraduate training but it didn’t matter to me since I believed in the art from the beginning of osteopathic medical school. The majority of first year osteopathic medical students should feel the same.

  2. James E.Whte, DO, RPh

    Dear Ken Unice, DO, it sounds like you need to learn Oral Osteopathy that uses direct craniofacial OMT to restore the micromotion of the bones of the skull which is maintained bysupport with a customized acrylic oral appliance. This achieves oral occlusal blancing which then is integrated with the patient being taught spinal self manipulation and prevention of somatic dysfunctions, all as a non-drug treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and chronic pain in older patients. $500 is the usual fee that requires 3 or 4 visits. Two clinical quantifying systems of NIH quality have been used in the development of this work as a new billable procedure for primary care doctors. Then payments are in cash, if the insurance company is interested, the book, “PTSD A non-drug treatment” is available by September 1st, 2013 as an e-book of PDFs for about $20.00/ copy. It is rcommended you arange for a tutorial or a 25h seminar workshop to learn the handling of equipment and use of materials along with the direct craniofacial OMT. Only about 3 or 4 Chiroprators cared to use this procedure of the 175 we demonstrated this to in the southwestern USA. The DC’s didnot like it after they had the oral appliance balanced and fitted and just before the patient was to leave their office, the DCs would palpate over the patient’s C1 for RESIDUAL TENSION and when it was not there, their facial expression would droop, because then they knew that the patient would not be back for 10 or 20 adjustments. “You may do every thing right in OMT, but have you chosen the right things to do!” docwhite@centurytel.net

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