Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 2023/12, 123(12):A34. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-2000, type of study: ,css,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Full text    (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jom-2023-2000/html)

Keywords:

career choice [56]
cross sectional study [894]
medical students [694]
OMT [3924]
osteopathic manipulative treatment [3945]
osteopathic medicine [2109]
USA [1752]

Abstract:

Statement of Significance: Osteopathic manipulative techniques (OMT) have many applications across medical specialties. However, physicians working in surgical and other subspecialties talk about and perform OMT less frequently compared to their primary care counterparts [1]. In our survey, we seek to determine if there are differences in perception towards utilization of OMT amongst medical specialties before students graduate from medical school. Research Methods: Using a research protocol deemed exempt by the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Institutional Review Board, a 43-item confidential questionnaire was distributed to all current medical students at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine using an email listserv to be self-administered on a voluntary basis. The data was collected using RedCap survey software. The questionnaire included items addressing student perceptions toward OMM, student exposure to OMT, student demographics, and desired specialty. Students were asked questions about their perceptions towards OMT and their responses were recorded using a Likert scale. Survey responses were split into four groups based on desired specialty (medical subspecialty, primary care, surgical subspecialty, and other (eg. radiology, pathology) and their perception towards OMT was analyzed based on survey responses. The data was compared using a chi-squared test and significance is deemed as a p-value <0.05. Data Analysis: Of the 249 survey respondents, 91 were first year, 87 were second year, 55 were third year, and 62 were fourth year medical students at the time of survey completion. Overall, 35.7% chose medicine as their desired specialty, 33.7% chose primary care, 20.5% chose surgery and 8.8% chose other specialties. Students who preferred primary care and medicine specialties were significantly more likely (39.6% and 38.7% respectively) to have intention to utilize OMT in their future practice compared to their counterparts who preferred surgical (15.1%) and other (6.6%) specialties. Chi-squared test produced a p-value of 0.05. Conclusion: This study investigated the association between desired specialty and intention to utilize OMT in future practice. In our survey, we found that students who preferred primary care and medical specialties were significantly more likely to want to use OMT in their future practice compared to students who preferred surgical and other specialties with a p-value of 0.05. Further studies should investigate whether this is due to a difference in perception or due to lack of exposure to OMT in a wide range of clinical settings during osteopathic education.