Quantitative Description of Medical Student Interest in Neurology and Psychiatry.

CONTEXT: Given the well-documented shortage of physicians in primary care and several other specialties, quantitative understanding of residency application and matching data among osteopathic and allopathic medical students has implications for predicting trends in the physician workforce. OBJECTIVES: To estimate medical student interest in neurology and psychiatry based on numbers of applicants and matches to neurology and psychiatry osteopathic and allopathic residency programs. Also, to gauge students' previous academic experience with brain and cognitive sciences. METHODS: The number of available postgraduate year 1 positions, applicants, and matches from graduating years 2011 through 2015 were collected from the National Matching Services Inc and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine for osteopathic programs and the National Resident Matching Program and the Association of American Medical Colleges for allopathic programs. To determine and compare osteopathic and allopathic medical students' interest in neurology and psychiatry, the number of positions, applicants, and matches were analyzed considering the number of total osteopathic and allopathic graduates in the given year using 2-tailed χ2 analyses with Yates correction. In addition, osteopathic and allopathic medical schools' websites were reviewed to determine whether neurology and psychiatry rotations were required. Osteopathic medical students' reported undergraduate majors were also gathered. RESULTS: Compared with allopathic medical students, osteopathic medical students had significantly greater interest (as measured by applicants) in neurology (χ21=11.85, P<.001) and psychiatry (χ21=39.07, P<.001), and an equal proportion of osteopathic and allopathic medical students matched in neurology and psychiatry residency programs. Approximately 6% of osteopathic vs nearly 85% of allopathic medical schools had required neurology rotations. Nearly 10% of osteopathic applicants and matriculants had undergraduate coursework in brain and cognitive sciences. CONCLUSION: Osteopathic medical students demonstrated greater interest than allopathic medical students in neurology and psychiatry based on the proportion of residency program applicants but similar interests as measured by matches. Required rotations did not appear to influence students' interests.

A Quantitative Examination of Undergraduate Neuroscience Majors Applying and Matriculating to Osteopathic Medical School.

Undergraduates choose to become neuroscience majors for a number of reasons including future career goals. Faculty and administration of undergraduate neuroscience programs understand that many neuroscience majors have aspirations of applying and matriculating to medical school (Prichard, 2015); however a quantitative understanding of this particular student population remains unknown, especially in the context of the national growth in undergraduate neuroscience education (Ramos et al., 2011). In the present report, we use medical school application data to establish a novel quantitative understanding of the number of neuroscience majors that apply and matriculate to osteopathic medical school. Our data indicate that a substantial number of neuroscience majors do indeed apply and matriculate to medical school compared to other majors in the life sciences, math and physical sciences, and humanities. These data are relevant to faculty and administration of undergraduate neuroscience programs and suggest that when programmatic, curricular, and training decisions are made, they should be made in the context of the diverse motivations and professional goals of neuroscience majors including careers in medicine. Finally, our novel quantitative approach of determining student motivation and professional goals based on application/matriculation data, can complement traditional methods such as surveys and questionnaires and can be used to determine the extent to which neuroscience majors apply to other professional and graduate degree programs.

The challenges of primary care and innovative responses in osteopathic education.

Numerous reports predict U.S. primary care physician shortages, with deficits of 20,000-46,000 doctors projected by 2020-25. Doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs) could help fill some of the gap alongside their medical doctor (MD) colleagues. Many osteopathic schools have undertaken initiatives to reinvigorate primary care career choices among students. This paper describes these developments, and it highlights as examples early-stage innovations at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. It will be several years before the changes can be assessed. The final outcome awaits coordinated national design changes in primary care support and training and in health care coverage.

AACOM projections for growth through 2012: results of a 2007 survey of US Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.

In fall 2006, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) sent an electronic survey to the deans of all 23 colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) in the United States. A response rate of 100% was achieved and data were reported to participants in May 2007. In fall 2007, AACOM sent shortened, personalized follow-up surveys to the same sample group, asking participants to confirm or correct their previous responses. The 2007 AACOM Survey of Osteopathic College Growth Plans and Issues took approximately 30 minutes to complete. A response rate of 96% was achieved. The results of this 2007 survey are summarized in light of data in AACOM's forthcoming 2007 Annual Statistical Report on Osteopathic Medical Education. By the 2012-2013 academic year, first-year student enrollment is expected to increase approximately 23%. By 2016-2017, more than 5000 DOs will graduate from COMs annually-a 62% increase over current numbers. When student recruiting efforts focus on demographic and geographic factors, the nation's COMs are most inclined to use these variables to address the needs of underserved rural populations. The majority of participants, regardless of their current plans for institutional expansion, indicated that the availability of clinical training sites is a cause of concern. Survey respondents also commented on the fiscal challenges of expansion.

Three pathways to a physician career: applicants to U.S. MD and DO schools and U.S. Citizen applicants to international medical schools.

PURPOSE: To determine the size of the overall applicant pool for medical education (applicants to U.S. MD schools and DO schools, and to international medical schools) and to determine the degree of overlap of the three types of applicants. METHOD: A cooperative agreement among the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates permitted the authors to uniquely identify applicants and students of all three types and to combine their data into a study file containing data on applicants for each year. Overlaps in the three applicant pools were then determined, and repeat applicants were separated from first-time applicants. RESULTS: A key finding is that two thirds of osteopathic applicants in any recent year also applied to U.S. MD schools, whereas only one in seven U.S. MD applicants also applied to DO schools. Seventy-two percent of students in international medical schools did not apply to any U.S. school in the same year. After separating out repeat applicants, the authors found that 90% of all first-time applicants applied to a U.S. MD school. CONCLUSIONS: If all first-time applicants applied to U.S. MD schools, the pool of first-time applicants would be increased by only 11%. It may be necessary to recruit additional applicants to meet projected growth in the aggregate capacity of both U.S. MD and DO schools. Although the number and quality of applicants seem to be adequate for the near term, it will be important to continue to monitor these trends.