Approaching the Single Accreditation System: Curricular Variation in Allopathic, Osteopathic, and Dually Accredited...

With the approval of a single accreditation system for graduate medical education, allopathic and osteopathic residency programs are moving toward 1 set of accreditation standards, with full implementation planned for 2020. Minimal research has been done on the variations between allopathic and osteopathic family medicine (FM) residency programs.

The aim of this study was to examine variations in allopathic, osteopathic, and dually accredited FM programs, and to allow them to be addressed.

We collected information in July 2014 on faculty-to-resident ratio; number of half-days spent in clinic; and the months performing maternity, pediatric, and surgical care for each program from the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. Location and number of approved positions were also obtained. Data were compared between allopathic, osteopathic, and dually accredited programs.

The number of approved positions was twice as large for allopathic and dually accredited FM programs (n = 24) compared to osteopathic programs (n = 12). Osteopathic FM programs offered 5 months of surgical training compared to 2 months in allopathic and dually accredited residencies, and resident stipends in osteopathic programs were about $2,000 lower than those in allopathic and dually accredited programs. All programs had similar faculty-to-resident ratios (1:2.8-3.3), and offered comparable months of maternity (3 months) and pediatric care (4 months) rotations.

Outpatient experiences appeared similar between all types of FM residency programs. Key differences included smaller program size and more months of surgical experience in osteopathic programs. These differences may become increasingly important as osteopathic programs strive to meet accreditation requirements.