AACOM to Collect Crucial Data Points in Graduating Senior Survey

Every year, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) surveys graduating osteopathic medical students to gather key information about their educational experiences, from what fields they plan to enter to where they plan to practice and whether they will be training in a residency program with Osteopathic Recognition, among other data points.

Our graduating senior reports help:

• Us shape our advocacy efforts and diversity initiatives
• Colleges track student experience, satisfaction and success
• Prospective students better understand the profession and
• External stakeholders know the quantifiable value of osteopathic medical education (OME)

This year, in addition to collecting our traditional survey responses from graduating seniors, we will also be asking students to share their reflections on three crucial areas:

1. How empathy relates to OME
2. How medical educators can promote mental health and well-being and
3. How DO students experience bias in the Match process

Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy

The Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE) is the first study of empathy in medical education in the United States with a national scale and scope.

POMEE is a two-phased project which began in 2017. Phase I was a cross-sectional study of first- through fourth-year osteopathic medical students and was completed in 2018. Phase II is a five-year longitudinal study slated to end with this year’s graduating senior survey.

POMEE outcomes will provide osteopathic medical educators with a better understanding of the determinants affecting medical student empathy. Empathy has been shown to better protect medical students and physicians from burnout, lead to healthier patient outcomes and increase diversity in medicine. The data gained in this final phase of the groundbreaking POMEE survey will be key to helping the OME community better serve students, patients and communities.

Health and Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program

Recognized for our efforts to address burnout and advance resilience, belonging and purpose among the OME community, our association was awarded a $2.2 million grant in January 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Through this grant, we and other awardees aim to use evidence-based or evidence-informed strategies to reduce and address burnout, suicide, mental health conditions and substance use disorders and to promote resiliency among the health workforce. These awards are designed to help healthcare organizations establish a culture of wellness and support training efforts that build resiliency for those at the beginning of their health careers.

By incorporating mental health measures into this year’s graduating senior survey, we will help assess the level of burnout and improve physician resiliency over time.

Bias in the Match Process

According to National Resident Matching Program data, 32 percent of residency program directors never or seldom interview DO candidates, and of those who do, at least 56 percent require the MD licensing exam for DO applicants to be considered. To address these inequities, AACOM has worked with Congress on introducing the Fair Access In Residency Act, H.R. 751.

This bipartisan legislation, reintroduced by U.S. Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Jared Golden (D-ME), would require federally funded graduate medical education programs to equitably accept and assess DO and MD residency candidates.

By asking graduating seniors who’ve recently gone through the Match process to elaborate on their experience, we can more strongly advocate to address the biases osteopathic medical students face when matching into residency.

We congratulate the graduating Class of 2023 and thank them for taking part in this monumental survey, the results of which have the potential to advance our profession in new, vitally important ways.