Standardizing OMM

[Kent Ray]

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Hi, I am a fourth year from DMU-OMC. I was wondering how many of you would be interested in taking up the cause of standardizing the way that OMM (OPP) is taught in medical school.
Although I received an excellent education in OMM, many schools dont. Also, schools teach the techniques differently with different names for each technique.
At Des Moines we did't concentrate on Cranial to a great extent. I just took COMLEX II and their were several questions about cranial manipulation on the test.
I am interested in your comments.

Kent

 

[UHS2002]

Personally, I don't think it would be a good idea.

That schools have a different approach to OMT and that some schools put more emphasis on it than others, gives prospective students another basis for school selection.

I am happy with the OMT training I am receiving at UHS, but I would not want to go into it in any more depth, and I understand that schools such as UNECOM and Kirskville have a lot more hours of OMT in their curriculum than we do. I figure that if I wanted more OMT, I would simply apply to a fellowship in it or take a couple of electives during my rotations. This is my personal feeling and, by the same token, I am sure there are lots of people out there that would like more OMT training, so they have a choice of selecting schools with 5 hours or so of OMT a week, instead of UHS' 3 hours for MS2s and 4 for MS1s. Someone on this board mentioned, sometime ago, that their school offers a 40 hour course in cranial. That would drive me absolutely nuts, as I am not a big fan of cranial! So, there is a place for everyone in the osteopathic community.

As the COMLEX is concerned, I have tried the tests at the end of "OMT Review" and "Except for OMT" and I feel that I have received a superb education preparing me for the COMLEX. So, perhaps we didn't get as many hours in lab as other schools, but our theoretical fundation is excellent. I don't know how is this all go to work out on rotations, but I know that during the first year 3 week's practicum, everyone did very well as far as their OMT was concerned.

So, let's keep the variety!

 

[prefontaine]

How could you possibly know if you are prepared for the COMLEX OMM, if you have not sat for it?

The questions in the above mentioned books do not adequately mirror the OMM questions on recent COMLEX exams.

 

[ewagner]

coming to bat for UHS2002, all he/she is saying is that she feels confident with her education in OMT. That, from his/her sources (the aforementioned books) she has tested quite well. Short of the COMLEX 1, there is no other basis of judgement on where one might stand, other than doing the practice tests. I tend to agree.

 

[UHS03]

I have heard nothing but good things about "Except for OMT." If the questions have changed, I hope they put out a revised edition.

UHS2002, ewagner, captain freedom, and any other UHS 2nd year:

I am concerned about the loss of OPP faculty at the end of this year. What do you think the impact of this will be on my class when we go through the ODT course??