Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2022 Jun 23;122(10):517-520.
doi: 10.1515/jom-2022-0040. eCollection 2022 Oct 1.

Osteopathic manipulative treatment use among family medicine residents in a teaching clinic

Garrett Caldwell  1 , Leezanne Zeng  1 , Jennifer Kaufman  1 , Joel Bates  2
Affiliations
Free article
Comment

Osteopathic manipulative treatment use among family medicine residents in a teaching clinic

Garrett Caldwell et al. J Osteopath Med. .
Free article

Abstract

Context: Osteopathic Principles and Practice (OPP), including osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is the core foundation of the education provided by osteopathic medical schools. Multiple studies performed over the past 25 years have demonstrated that a dwindling number of osteopathic physicians utilize OMT in their practice, despite 95% of osteopathic family physicians perceiving OMT as an effective treatment modality.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to quantify how often OMT is being performed by residents in an osteopathically recognized family medicine training clinic and to identify the perceived barriers to performing OMT.

Methods: Fifteen family medicine residents were given access to an anonymous written survey for three 2 week periods. The survey allowed them to input the total number of patient encounters for their half clinic day, the encounters in which OMT was perceived to be appropriate, the encounters in which OMT was performed, and the reasoning for encounters in which OMT was not performed. Surveys were collected anonymously, and data were input into a datasheet in which results were calculated.

Results: A total of 101 survey responses were collected for a total of 304 patient encounters. OMT was performed in 5/304 (1.6%) encounters, yet it was perceived to be appropriate in 60/304 (19.7%) encounters. The primary documented reason that OMT was deferred was due to time constraints (42/50 responses, or 70.0% of the encounters in which OMT was deemed appropriate).

Conclusions: This study highlights time as the main reason OMT is deferred by residents in a teaching clinic. This provides insight into potential interventions in a training clinic to increase the use of OMT by family medicine residents.

Keywords: family medicine; osteopathic manipulative treatment; resident.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment on

References

    1. Spaeth, D, Pheley, A. Use of osteopathic manipulative treatment by Ohio osteopathic physicians in various specialties. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2003;103:16–26. https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2003.103.1.16.
    1. Spaeth, D, Pheley, A. Evaluation of osteopathic manipulative treatment training by practicing physicians in Ohio. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2002;102:145–50. https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2002.102.3.145.
    1. Allee, B, Pollak, M, Malnar, K. Survey of osteopathic and allopathic residents’ attitudes toward osteopathic manipulative treatment. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2005;105:551–61. https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2005.105.12.551.
    1. Johnson, S, Kurtz, M. Conditions and diagnoses for which osteopathic primary care physicians and specialists use osteopathic manipulative treatment. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2002;102:527–40. https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2002.102.10.527.
    1. Healy, C, Brockway, M, Wilde, B. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) use among osteopathic physicians in the United States. J Osteopath Med 2021;121:57–61. https://doi.org/10.1515/jom-2020-0013.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources