OU-COM alumni lead national exam scores

Classes of 2007 & 2008 earn top scores on post-graduate examination

By Richard Heck

June 19, 2009 

Graduates of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) Classes of 2007 and 2008 collectively earned both the highest national mean score and the second highest national first-time passage rate in the most recent Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX-USA) Level Three. 

COMLEX-USA is a series of three osteopathic medical licensing examinations administered by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners and is the most common pathway by which osteopathic physicians apply for licensure. Osteopathic medical students take the Level One examination after their second year of medical school, Level Two during their fourth year, and Level Three during their first year of post-graduate medical education (internships or residency programs).

The 130 OU-COM graduates who took the Level Three examination for the first time between December 2007 and January 2009 achieved a mean score of 562.1, ranking them the highest among the nation’s  osteopathic medical schools.

“Scoring first in the country on Level Three of the COMLEX exam is an important milestone for OU-COM,” said Dean Jack Brose, D.O. “This examination gives a strong indication of the clinical abilities of our graduates. I could not be prouder of them.”

Among the recent OU-COM alumni, 96 percent passed on their first attempt, ranking the college second highest among the 22 osteopathic medical schools in the report. Nationally, 91 percent of the 3,798 new osteopathic physicians and surgeons taking the examination for the first time passed.

“We are very proud of the accomplishments of our students during this first phase of their careers,” said Peter Dane, D.O., associate dean for predoctoral education. “For our post-graduate students entering their first year of residency to be the top in the nation is profound.”

Both the Level Two and Level Three examinations require candidates to demonstrate both accurate knowledge of clinical concepts and sound medical decision-making in eight areas, including emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, osteopathic principles, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery.

Both Dane and Brose attributed the achievement to OU-COM’s faculty and the college’s educational programs, including Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE), the college’s statewide consortium of teaching hospitals in which its third- and fourth-year medical students conduct their clinical rotations.

“A large part of the credit belongs to our CORE clinical faculty and our CORE hospitals.  I am profoundly indebted to our hospitals and volunteer clinical faculty for the tremendous teaching that they provide to our students,” Brose said.