For osteopathic medical
students training in this country, Monday, Feb. 13, was a big
day — American Osteopathic Association (AOA) “Match” Day.
Match Day is the day that
medical students who applied in the AOA’s Intern/Resident
Registration Program find out how they fared with their choices
of AOA-approved internship/residency programs, i.e., what
osteopathic internship and residency training positions they
will find themselves in this summer or fall.
The program allows students and
graduate medical programs to “match” their rank order lists of
preferences for programs and students. An application and
interview process precedes submission of students’ and programs’
Match lists.
“The Match,” says the AOA,
“provides an orderly process to help students obtain positions
of their choice, and to help programs obtain students of their
choice.” The Match is not unlike similar programs used in other
professions, including allopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy,
psychology and law.
The AOA Match helps osteopathic
students focus on osteopathic internships and residencies rather
than applying to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education’s allopathic programs, says Keith Watson, D.O.,
associate dean of postgraduate medical education.
This year, of 2,886
graduating
osteopathic students, 1,407, or
almost 49 percent, were matched with AOA-approved
internship/residency programs.
In five states what drives
graduates’ Match participation is that these states require an
osteopathic internship to acquire a license to practice in the
state, says Watson. “If you are in one of those five states,
three of which are Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, you must
participate in an AOA-approved osteopathic internship to be
licensed. It’s state law.”
Because Ohio has
no such law, he says, the schools at Philadelphia and Michigan
have an advantage in Match participation because the law is an
incentive for their students to remain within AOA systems in
order to train.
Michigan State University
College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) and Philadelphia
College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) had the highest match
rates — 86.2 percent and 70.3 percent, respectively — and 116
and 249 students participating in the Match. PCOM had the second
highest number of students.
For OU-COM, almost 60 percent
of its 107 eligibles were matched with osteopathic programs.
OU-COM placed number six in percentage match rankings. That’s up
from last year’s 52 percent, says Watson.
“The rise in participation in
the AOA Match this year is a good thing. Until about three or
four years ago, we consistently ranked number three behind P-COM
and MSU-COM,” says Watson.
“I know we have good programs
in the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE)
that encourage people to participate in the AOA Match. The CORE
was the nation’s first accredited osteopathic postgraduate
training institution.”
Watson says there are at least
three very good reasons why our graduates — and graduates of
osteopathic schools — should consider our graduate medical
education (GME) programs.
“One, CORE hospitals are
partners with the college in this internship/residency
enterprise and because of that medical students in these
programs benefit from excellent role modeling and mentoring.
Two, the osteopathic philosophy is not being taught in
allopathic GME programs. And, three, CORE programs are some of
the finest and most focused programs in postgraduate medical
education in the nation, and these programs are part of the
continuum of education that begins at OU-COM.”
An important part of that
continuum, Watson says, is the maintenance and continuation our
graduates’ osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) competency —
yet another reason to choose osteopathic internship/residency
programs.
“We are working diligently to
make sure that we have a continuum of OMM training in the
Residency Program Advisory Committees Education Day programs and
the CORE system. We are going to put into place an augmented
form of that this year, so that this piece of their education is
strengthened.”
“We’re encouraged that so many
students are choosing osteopathic — and we believe CORE —
hospitals for their internships and residencies.”
And that’s what the Match is
all about.
- 30 -
News for
the week of
Feb 20 – Feb 25
