The impact of osteopathic recognition on multiple medical specialty residencies in a university-based setting

In 2020, the allopathic and osteopathic residency programs were merged into a single residency system, with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as the sole accreditor for residencies and fellowships in the United States. As a result of this merger, osteopathic recognition (OR) emerged as a unique approach to promoting osteopathic training and practice. However, there is a lack of data on the effects of OR in residency, specifically university-based residency programs.

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of OR on retaining and applying osteopathic principles in a mixed cohort of residents in a single-center setting.

We conducted a prospective cohort study of allopathic and osteopathic-trained residents at varying years of postgraduate training in family medicine (FM), internal medicine (IM), and combined internal medicine-pediatric residencies at a single site. Participation in both the osteopathic curriculum and study was voluntary. We distributed a presurvey before the residents participated in the curriculum for that year and a follow-up 6 months later as a postsurvey. The surveys measured confidence levels based on a Likert scale and were aligned with the Osteopathic Recognition Milestones Project (ORMP). Statistical analysis with paired t tests and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was conducted on participants who completed both surveys.

We had 38 % (18/47) of participants complete both surveys. We observed significant improvements in confidence levels related to osteopathic principles (p=0.036). Residents reported statistically significant gains in their ability to conduct a literature review on osteopathic medicine (p=0.0288). Additionally, there was a trend toward significance in confidence levels regarding the patient's perception of touch (p=0.0741) and the osteopathic treatment plan (p=0.0635). Notably, content knowledge was significantly improved (p=0.0313) for all participants. Based on the postsurvey responses, we discovered that participants who not only reported higher confidence overall but also had practiced osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) in the last month were more likely to state they would practice osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) after residency.

We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the effects of OR utilizing surveys aligned to the ORMP. We identified knowledge- and confidence-level gains on osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) in a single-center study. Residents in OR are more likely to utilize OMT after residency.