Promoting the understanding of prerequisites, training, career opportunities, and practice philosophy of Osteopathic physicians amongst students in the Southeastern U.S.

Introduction: Osteopathic medicine is one of the most rapidly growing healthcare professions. Over the past five years, there has been a comprehensive increase in the number of Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) physicians by 30%, constituting more than 11% of U.S. physicians. Over the past decade, the number of DO students expanded by 77%, representing more than 25% of U.S. medical students today. While future projections predict a continued exponential increase of DO physicians, the understanding of Osteopathic medicine within the general public remains inconsistent among various age ranges and U.S. geographic regions, and few studies have been conducted to investigate these parameters. Among this effort includes the Osteopathic Survey of HealthCare in America (OSTEOSURV) 2010, which used randomized telephone surveys to trend awareness, perceptions, utilization, and patient satisfaction of DO physicians. While this study provided information reflective of American adults over the age of eighteen, it lacked data representative of young adults in their twenties-thirties– the most common age group of the pre-health and pre-medical student community. Another research study highlighted the need for patient education of Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) in New York but excluded assessment of other U.S. states. Our study focuses on evaluating and promoting the understanding of the Osteopathic profession in pre-health, pre-medical or allopathic medical students in Southeastern U.S. universities, and the related impact on their future involvement in or with the Osteopathic profession.

Methods: This quality improvement study targeted pre-health and allopathic medical students in the Southeast U.S. attending pre-health career fairs and medical interest group meetings virtually or in-person at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia (PCOM Georgia) and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) between July 2023 and February 2024. Exclusion factors include

Results: TBD

Discussion: TBD