UHS-COM - In the past the first year curriculum allowed for two hours of lecture per week and one two-hour lab per week for 31 weeks (4 hours per week). The second year curriculum allowed for one hour of lecture per week and one two-hour lab per week for 32 weeks (3 hours per week). With the new curriculum which will start with the first year class this year, the number of lecture hours and lab hours will be increased by approximately four to five hours over the two year curriculum.
UMDNJ-SOM - "Osteopathic clinical skills and physical diagnosis are covered in a year-long course that covers physical diagnosis, structural examination, and osteopathic manipulation." The UMDNJ-SOM webpage claimed that 272hr out of 994 total hrs in the 1st year were devoted to OTM education with 170hrs out of 1087 total hours 2nd year. This is more than KCOM, but these numbers are a little inflated compared with KCOM because we have a summer quarter both years, whereas UMDNJ does not.
UNECOM - no detail in the article, but according to the school's webpage, between the two years, there are 115 total credit hours. OMM comprises 10 of those hours. They have no summer classes. Even including two extra summers of courses without OMM, OMM still comprises 10% of KCOM's curriculum (220 of 2169 total hours) versus 8.7% for UNECOM (10 of 115 total hours).
UNTHSC-TCOM - according to the article, they require a one-month in-house core OMM rotation in the 3rd year. According to the website, each semester credit hour (SCH) relates to 16 hours of scheduled student activities including exams. In year 1, OTM comprises 5 out of 68 total SCH. In year 2, OTM comprises 5 out of 75 SCH. †This is roughly 7% of the entire curriculum.
UOMS/COMS - according to the article, 1st year is a stand-alone course while 2nd year OMM is included in each system course. No specific details regarding any aspect of their curriculum could be found on the website. I am waiting for them to return my e-mail.
WVSOM - each semester is 16 weeks long. 1st semester of 1st year, there are 16 1hr lectures and 16 1.5hr labs, equaling 2.5hrs/week of OTM instruction. For 2nd semester 1st year, it is 13hrs of lecture and 19.5 hrs of lab or roughly 2hrs/week of OTM. 1st semester 2nd year, there are 17hrs of lecture and 25.5 hours of lab or 2.65hrs/week, plus a 3hr review lab. 2nd semester of 2nd year, there are 5 1hr lectures, one 3hr conference and one 3hr comprehensive review lab, which equals 0.7hrs/week of OTM.
WesternU/COMP - OPP continues for both years of the education. The exact number of hours could not be found in either the article or on the webpage. I am waiting for them to return my e-mail.
In comparing all of the other schools, KCOM is at or near the top in terms of curriculum hours devoted to OTM. †In the article (not written by anyone from KCOM) KCOM itself boasts that it has the most hours of OTM and if you factor in the total number of contact hours devoted to OTM education, only UMDNJ clearly exceeds the amount of time KCOM spends in the classroom learning OTM.
Is it fair to say that we are in the top 5 in terms of time spent learning OTM but score in the bottom 5 on the COMLEX? These facts seem to support the hours. The COMLEX scores the last two years tell the rest of the story.
We have been told by administration that we are in fact in the middle in terms of total hours of OTM curriculum. Therefore, if these facts given above are false, then I would like to know the real numbers, the references for those numbers and to know why the information noted here, which is currently indicated on the internet by the schools themselves, is either false or not up to date. However, if this information noted above is accurate, then I question whether the educational process in OTM is effective at KCOM, as student opinion has indicated.
