Osteopathic manipulative treatment: student attitudes before and after intensive clinical exposure

It is widely known that family practice osteopathic physicians actively use osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) as a part of their everyday practices, but many DOs in other specialty areas fail to use OMT at all. Physicians who use this modality often limit its use to musculoskeletal complaints. This pattern likely begins during undergraduate training at the time that OMT is taught. To warm student attitudes to OMT and provide a more integrated OMT training background, the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth/Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine has added to the clinical curriculum a required 1-month rotation in manipulative medicine. With the rotation in place for a full academic year, it was important to determine the efficacy of the rotation curriculum. This assessment has been accomplished using a specialized protocol designed to gauge student attitudes and opinions regarding OMT, osteopathic medicine, and their own OMT skills.