Impact of Predoctoral Teaching Fellows on Osteopathic Medical Students: A Near-Peer Teaching Program Evaluation
The Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUCOM-CA) is one of many colleges of osteopathic medicine with osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) predoctoral teaching fellowship programs. OMM fellows serve as near-peer teachers for preclinical osteopathic medical students (OMS) at TUCOM-CA, with the objectives of increasing student satisfaction with and understanding of the OMM curriculum. Our aim was to assess whether the TUCOM-CA fellowship program has achieved these objectives. All osteopathic medical students at TUCOM-CA were sent an electronic survey. The survey items queried: frequency of and type of interaction; impact on satisfaction with and understanding of the OMM curriculum; impact on confidence in using osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT); valuation of OMT and intention to use OMT in future clinical practice. Frequencies, means and standard deviations were calculated, omitting “no basis for evaluation” responses. Two-tailed Z-tests of proportions were utilized for analysis of statistical significance, with significance set at 95% (P<.05 ). In total, 156 of 538 (29.0%) responses were received, and 150 had sufficient data to analyze. Respondents reported varied rates and modes of interaction with OMM fellows (OMM lab table-training [97.3%] to early clinical experiences [30.9%]). Response means for items regarding satisfaction with and understanding of the OMM curriculum fell between “strongly agree” and “agree” for all activities. Many respondents (82.5%–83.8%) reported that interaction with OMM fellows increased their confidence in using OMT. Additionally, respondents who were treated with OMT by OMM fellows reported significantly higher agreement with statements about clinical utility of OMT (Z=2.6, P<.05) and intention to use OMT in future practice (Z=2.3, P<.05). The majority of osteopathic medical students at TUCOM-CA reported significant agreement with the positive impact of interaction with OMM fellows on satisfaction with and understanding of the OMM curriculum. This supports the conclusion that the OMM predoctoral teaching fellowship program achieves its objectives to increase student satisfaction with and understanding of the OMM curriculum. The survey data also showed significantly stronger agreement with statements supporting valuation of OMT in clinical practice and intention to use OMT in the future, among respondents treated with OMT by OMM fellows.Abstract
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Disclosures: none reported.