Incorporating Augmented Reality Into Anatomy Education in a Contemporary Medical School Curriculum.

Anatomy education in the medical school curriculum has encountered considerable challenges during the last decade. The exponential growth of medical science has necessitated a review of the classical ways to teach anatomy to shorten the time students spend dissecting, allowing them to acquire critical, new knowledge in other disciplines. Augmented and mixed reality technologies have developed tremendously during the last few years, offering a wide variety of possibilities to deliver anatomy education to medical students. Here, we provide a methodology to develop, deliver, and assess an anatomy laboratory course using augmented reality applications. We suggest a novel approach, based on Microsoft® HoloLens II, to develop systematic sequences of holograms to reproduce human dissection. The laboratory sessions are prepared before classes and include a series of holograms revealing sequential layers of the human body, isolated structures, or a combination of structures forming a system or a functional unit. The in-class activities are conducted either as one group of students (n = 8-9) with a leading facilitator or small groups of students (n = 4) with facilitators (n = 4) joining the groups for discussion. The same or different sessions may be used for the assessment of students' knowledge. Although currently in its infancy, the use of holograms will soon become a substantial part of medical education. Currently, several companies are offering a range of useful learning platforms, from anatomy education to patient encounters. By describing the holographic program at our institution, we hope to provide a roadmap for other institutions looking to implement a systematic approach to teaching anatomy through holographic dissection. This approach has several benefits, including a sequential 3D presentation of the human body with varying layers of dissection, demonstrations of facilitator-selected three-dimensional (3D) anatomical regions or specific body units, and the option for classroom or remote facilitation, with the ability for students to review each session individually.

Promoting cultural competency and osteopathic medicine awareness among premedical students through a summer premedical rural enrichment program.

CONTEXT: Premedical preparatory programs at osteopathic medical schools that recruit students from medically underserved areas (MUAs) may promote interest in practicing osteopathic medicine in underserved or rural areas. In these programs, emphasis on cultural competency may increase diversity among medical school applicants and decrease healthcare disparities in the future. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to determine whether a summer premedical rural enrichment program (PREP) held at an osteopathic medical school located in a MUA will foster greater prioritization of cultural competency in medicine, enhance interest in practicing in rural or underserved areas, and increase familiarity with osteopathic medicine. METHODS: An eight-week summer PREP was hosted at the California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM) in Clovis, California. Seventy-eight diverse participants were recruited from the Central Valley, an underserved region of California. Attendees were required to finish the formal application process and were recommended to have completed medical school prerequisite courses. The curriculum included Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) preparation through team-based learning sessions, introduction to the osteopathic medical school curriculum, osteopathic philosophy, and osteopathic manipulative medicine, as well as integrated anatomy and physiology sessions, medical school application workshops, mock interviews, simulation workshops, and sociology and cultural competency sessions. Data were collected via a voluntary and anonymous survey administered before and after the program with questions about familiarity with osteopathy, interest in practicing in underserved areas, medical school preparedness, and a post-course survey about cultural competency. The surveys had students rate statements on a Likert scale. RESULTS: Seventy-four of the 78 premedical students (95%) completed the pre-and postsurvey. There was a significant increase in agreement to statements evaluating medical school preparedness, osteopathic familiarity, and desire to practice medicine locally in the postprogram survey, compared to the preprogram survey. In the cultural competency postsurvey, 75.0% of the responses to questions that evaluated the positive effect of the course were "Agree" or "Strongly Agree." Of the reported postcourse outcomes, the average MCAT score was 504 ± 6.2 (38 students reported, 50.7%). Of the 27 participants who reported matriculation, 16 (59.2%) were admitted to osteopathic medical schools, 9 (33.3%) to allopathic medical schools, and 2 to other health programs. CONCLUSIONS: After completing the PREP program, premedical participants reported that they have better understanding of cultural competency and improvement in preparation for medical school, including familiarity with osteopathic medicine, and interest in serving MUAs. These findings indicate that similar programs may have a positive impact on MUAs. These programs may help create diverse and culturally competent osteopathic physicians.

Integration of Nutrition Topics in Osteopathic Medical School Curriculum - Shared Experiences.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. A crucial component of osteopathic medicine's philosophy is self-regulation, preventive care, and health maintenance, including a healthy lifestyle. More than half of the osteopathic medical graduates pursue a career as primary care physicians, and as such patient education on healthy lifestyle, including eating habits, is a significant part of their daily practice. However, nutrition is often overlooked in the osteopathic medical school curricula. Therefore, strategic inclusion of evidence-based nutrition approaches will equip future osteopathic medical students with an understanding and application of nutrition to the ever-growing primary care medical profession. Working towards this goal, we are implementing nutritional science topics across the pre-clinical years of our new osteopathic medical school's curriculum. Providing nutrition topics that will fit into the systems-based curriculum may encourage other medical schools to enhance nutrition instruction in osteopathic medical education. Assimilating nutrition as a part of the curriculum will enhance osteopathic medical students' confidence to counsel and treat their future patient population.

Motivating High School Students From Rural Areas to Attend College and Pursue Careers as Osteopathic Physicians.

CONTEXT: One potential way to address critical current and future projected health care workforce shortages is through comprehensive programs that could potentially inspire high school students to pursue osteopathic medical careers in underserved areas. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a comprehensive, 5-week enrichment program could promote interest among rural high-school students in careers osteopathic medicine. METHODS: In May 2018, 116 high school students with a grade point average of 2.8 or higher from rural areas, including New Mexico and its surrounding rural areas in the US-Mexico border region, enrolled in а 5-week program offering American College Testing (ACT) preparation and biomedical sciences enrichment at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM). During the program, students were offered more than 150 hours of interactive in-class lectures and hands-on activities with laboratories focusing on college preparedness, health sciences, and motivating students to pursue osteopathic medical career and practice medicine in rural areas. Clinically-oriented sessions covering osteopathic philosophy and osteopathic manipulative medicine were included. After completion, a voluntary and anonymous survey was sent to students who completed the program students through QualtricsXM©. Blinded ACT scores were collected from participants' schools, along with college enrollment status information. RESULTS: Of 116 enrolled students, 106 (91.4%) completed the program successfully. In their postcompletion survey responses, students reported that they had gained a realistic perception of the field of medicine and were motivated to attend college (mean [standard error, SE] score on 5-point Likert scale over 2 questions, 4.8 [0.06]) and osteopathic medical school (mean [SE], 4.7 [0.1]). Participants also felt more informed about physician shortage in rural areas (mean [SE], 4.7 [0.07]) and appeared to be inspired to practice medicine in rural areas (mean [SE], 4.6 [0.09]). Students also reported feeling better prepared to take the ACT after finishing this program (mean [SE], 4.9 [0.04]). Finally, we were able to collect the ACT scores of 51 participants (48.1%) who completed the program; the mean ACT score was 24.3, compared with a reported national mean of 20.7 on a scoring scale of 1-36. We also performed a follow-up inquiry showing that 78 of the 81 participating students (96%) who had graduated from high school were enrolled in college or university and 59 (73%) had elected in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or health majors. CONCLUSION: Rural high school pipeline programs could be a tool to motivate high school students to attend college and ultimately to develop physicians who are interested to practice in medically underserved areas.

Integration of Community Health and Prevention Topics in an Osteopathic Medical School Curriculum.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Preventable chronic disease is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and around the world. Training in wellness and disease prevention is provided to varying degrees in medical education leading to low levels of counseling on prevention-related topics in clinical care. Colleges of osteopathic medicine are in a unique position to lead the way in training future physicians in community health and prevention topics. Integrating community health and wellness throughout the curriculum allows osteopathic medical students to learn the scientific basis for prevention recommendations and learn to apply them to future patient care. We are incorporating these topics across the first two years of medical school in a new college of osteopathic medicine in the USA. This will address local disparities and train physicians prepared to care for patients at the individual and population health levels.

Single Accreditation and The Match: How Does the Change Affect Osteopathic Graduates?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. There is a predicted serious shortage of physicians in the US. To overcome this problem, medical schools have expanded at the behest of the US Government by number and by overall graduates - both medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine. However, the graduate medical program numbers are struggling to keep pace with the significant additional medical school graduates to adequately accommodate the larger supply of applicants for GME positions. Moreover, 2020 marks the first single accreditation system for graduate GME in the United States. Although a historical moment, it further contributes to the uncertainty of GME program availability and medical graduates match rates. In this article, we make a thorough analysis of traditional and recent matching rates for the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education programs for osteopathic medical graduates compared to medical school graduates and provide an insight of the 2020 single accreditation system match. Our data indicate that osteopathic medical graduates show increasing matching rates to previously ACGME programs, and the 2020 match shows the best matching rate so far.

Comprehensive Medical College Admission Test Preparatory Course as a Strategy to Encourage Premedical Students to Pursue Osteopathic Medicine in Rural Areas.

CONTEXT: Comprehensive Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) preparatory courses could potentially promote interest among premedical students to pursue careers in osteopathic medicine in underserved areas. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a comprehensive 16-week course centered on MCAT preparation and exposure to an osteopathic medical school setting will promote interest among premedical students to become osteopathic physicians in the rural Southwest. METHODS: At the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in Las Cruces, New Mexico, undergraduate premedical students from the surrounding rural and urban areas completed an all-inclusive 16-week MCAT preparation course. Students were required to have completed medical school prerequisite courses and have a minimum 3.0 grade point average. The program included interactive instructional sessions for teaching material pertinent to the MCAT, an introduction to osteopathic philosophy, workshops for application preparation, a tour of the medical school facilities, full-length practice tests, and mock interviews. After course completion with at least 80% attendance, a survey was conducted to identify effectiveness and outcomes of the course. The survey used a Likert scale that ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). RESULTS: Of the 170 student participants, 163 completed the survey. After completing the course, participants felt more knowledgeable about the true nature of medical school and osteopathic medicine (weighted averages, 4.26-4.40) than before the course. Compared with attitudes before taking the course, participants were more inclined to attend an osteopathic medical school and practice rural medicine in the southwestern United States (weighted averages, 4.16-4.45). Participants who completed the course also felt that they were better prepared to take the MCAT (weighted average, 4.37). CONCLUSION: Participant knowledge and attitudes about practicing osteopathic medicine were enhanced after they completed the comprehensive MCAT preparatory course. These results suggest that offering similar courses in osteopathic medical schools throughout the country may improve the outlook of creating a diverse physician workforce that provides health care in rural areas.

Bradykinin in Hemipepsis ustulata: A novel method for safely milking wasps.

Wasp venom characterization is of interest across multiple disciplines such as medicinal chemistry and evolutionary biology. A simple method is described herein to milk wasp venom without undue risks to the researcher. The wasps were immobilized by cooling for safe handling, restrained, and their venom was collected on parafilm. Bradykinin from Hemipepsis ustulata was identified by LC-MS/MS during method verification.

Synthesis and characterization of tritylthioethanamine derivatives with potent KSP inhibitory activity.

Assembly of a bipolar mitotic spindle requires the action of class 5 kinesins, and inhibition or depletion of this motor results in mitotic arrest and apoptosis. S-Trityl-l-cysteine is an allosteric inhibitor of vertebrate Kinesin Spindle Protein (KSP) that has generated considerable interest due to its anti-cancer properties, however, poor pharmacological properties have limited the use of this compound. We have modified the triphenylmethyl and cysteine groups, guided by biochemical and cell-based assays, to yield new cysteinol and cysteamine derivatives with increased inhibitory activity, greater efficacy in model systems, and significantly enhanced potency against the NCI60 tumor panel. These results reveal a promising new class of conformationally-flexible small molecules as allosteric KSP inhibitors for use as research tools, with activities that provide impetus for further development as anti-tumor agents.