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Social isolation and loneliness present significant challenges for the mental and physical health of older adults. Social distancing, mask wearing, and other precautions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic add to these challenges. This article details a telecollaborative service-learning project to engage older adults online and provide applied experiences for students. From March through October 2020, 54 students from Social Work (Master, Bachelor), the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM; DO), and Occupational Therapy (Master) provided telephone support and Zoom™ based programming for older adults affiliated with the University of New England. Creative offerings were piloted weekly and debriefed on Friday afternoons in the spring, leading to more structured 8-week schedules in summer and fall. Peer-to-peer support took place between older adults with experience in video meetings and those willing to learn. Bidirectional and intergenerational benefits were noted as older adults and students navigated the exigencies of the pandemic and learned important lessons with and from each other to advance knowledge and improve quality of life.

The case report presents a patient with a possible neuropathic sternal pain associated with a recent heart transplant procedure. The patient could not breathe deeply and move the upper limbs, with a trunk torsion, feeling a sharp pain under and around the left breastbone. A fascial osteopathic approach in the treatment of the pelvic floor, the respiratory diaphragm, the thoracic outlet, the tongue and the tentorium cerebelli allowed the patient to access to a cardiovascular rehabilitation program. In osteopathic medicine, these anatomical parts of the body are called the five diaphragms. To our best knowledge, this is the first case report that uses osteopathic treatment in a patient with sternal pain associated with an undergoing cardiac transplantation. The clinical importance of the case report is added to other osteopathic research with patients undergoing cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass graft) and with multiple benefits, without side effects. One of the main goals of osteopathic treatment is to provide the patient with well-being, from many clinical points of view, allowing the person to be discharged from the hospital more quickly and/or with less pain.

Sandra L. Bertman has held several faculty positions, among them Professor of Humanities in Medicine, UMass Medical School; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Nova Osteopathic Medicine; an...

Substance use is a major public health concern in the United States; only a fraction of people needing treatment for substance use receive care. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) training is one strategy to increase the identification and treatment of substance use. Integrated approaches to SBIRT delivery assure that every patient will be screened regardless of when and how they enter the healthcare system. The Collaborative SBIRT Training program at the University of New England includes 10 different health disciplines in its educational model (dental hygiene, dental medicine, nursing, occupation therapy, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physician assistants, social work, physical therapy, and health, wellness, and occupational studies). This article describes the development and implementation of this program, including steps taken to integrate SBIRT into diverse curricula, challenges and opportunities noted, and preliminary findings observed.

This essay offers a layered account of the origins and enactment of a narrative medicine program at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine titled the Open Book Project (OBP). Narrative medicine positions clinical judgment as involving both scientific and narrative reasoning, a set of practices particularly well-suited to fostering inclusive health care and social justice. The OBP involved first-year medical students who met bi-monthly to witness, reflect on, and write about literary passages, visual images, music and lyrics, and other works of art. Sessions also provided opportunities for participants to attentively listen and respond to others, opening themselves to diverse ways of knowing and being. The authors move between academic literature, participants' compositions developed during the project, and students' testimonies to illustrate the dividends and difficulties of narrative medicine.

End-of-life care can be stressful for patients, caregivers, and providers. Caregivers often experience high levels of burden from caregiving duties such as performing medical tasks, communicating with providers, and making decisions. Similarly, many physicians feel unprepared to provide end-of-life care or communicate with patients and families about sensitive issues associated with death and dying. Physicians often attribute their lack of preparation to inadequate training in medical school. Previous research suggests that drama-based learning opportunities are valuable supplements to existing end-of-life curricula. The current study evaluates the success of the Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program - a drama-based educational program that depicts patient and caregiver experiences. A total of 477 osteopathic medical students participated in the program, which includes viewing a play, engaging in a facilitated post-performance talkback session, and completing an evaluation survey. The results suggest the program is a valuable learning experience that is positively associated with important facets of experiential learning using narratives such as perceived realism, increased reflection, strong emotions, and increased comfort with difficult behaviors. The program offers a safe environment for medical students to identify, understand, and process the sensitive and complex issues associated with end-of-life care. Moreover, the play offers insight into the often-overlooked experiences of family caregivers who are at risk of experiencing high caregiver burden while managing health-related communication and decision-making.

In this essay, the author offers a poem constructed in a COVID-19 themed narrative medicine seminar at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. The poem is situated within reflections about what came into focus during a global pandemic and its accomplices of social unrest. The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of self-care in broader efforts toward healing and social justice.

LWW Health Library is a web-based portal for reading content from Lippincott including common required textbooks for medical education, pharmacy, and the health professions. The site also contains other multimedia features including video and audio, self-assessments, cases, and clinical skills materials. LWW Health Library collections can be purchased in their entirety or by subcollections including Anatomy, Osteopathic Medicine, and Basic Sciences. This review will assess the content, navigation, search functions, and various features of LWW Health Library by focusing on the Medical Education Collection.

PHENOMENON: In the United States, the Affordable Care Act has increased the need for community-centered pedagogy for medical education such as service-learning, wherein students connect academic curriculum and reflections to address a community need. Yet heterogeneity among service-learning programs suggests the need for a framework to understand variations among service-learning programs in medical education.A qualitative systematic review of literature on service-learning and medical education was conducted for the period between 1998 and 2012. A two-stage inclusion criteria process resulted in articles (n = 32) on service-learning and Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine being included for both coding and analysis. Focused and selective coding were employed to identify recurring themes and subthemes from the literature.The findings of the qualitative thematic analysis of service-learning variation in medical education identified a total of seven themes with subthemes. The themes identified from the analysis were (a) geographic location and setting, (b) program design, (c) funding, (d) participation, (e) program implementation, (f) assessment, and (g) student outcomes. Insights: This systematic review of literature confirmed the existence of program heterogeneity among service-learning program in medical education. However, the findings of this study provide key insights into the nature of service-learning in medical education building a framework for which to organize differences among service-learning programs. A list of recommendations for future areas of inquiry is provided to guide future research.

Background: Technology has been incorporated into the classrooms of future healthcare professionals for decades and vast research has investigated its effectiveness. Much less attention, however, has examined how medical schools are actually using technology and telemedicine to aid teaching.Aims: It is unclear how medical schools use technology as pedagogical aids. This study investigates technology and telemedicine use in physician training in the United States.Methods: We distributed an online survey on technology and telemedicine use through the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and the Association of American Medical Colleges.Results: Both allopathic and osteopathic institutions train students with various forms of technology, but appear to be doing so differently. Few schools use telemedicine in the classroom and even fewer require it.Conclusion: Osteopathic institutions report more positive attitudes toward e-learning and technology, but allopathic schools on an averag...

Editors Note: This is the first set of reviews in a new column, The Interactive Web. The column editor, Lisa D. Travis, began locating, annotating, and adding interactive websites to her library's web page during her first professional position in 2002. Over the course of her career, she has supported a wide variety of health sciences programs including Osteopathic Medicine, Nursing, Occupational and Physical Therapy, Radiography, and Veterinary Technology and has continued to add to her collection of links to interactive websites. Faculty, students, and alumni have provided her with websites for her collection, requested searches for useful websites, and provided notes for annotations. The Interactive Web column reviews freely available Internet resources that are interactive in some form and/or provide helpful videos and animations. The websites are used for assignments, lectures, and self-study purposes and are available for viewing within the Program Resources section of the Dr. Lon and Elizabeth Parr...

Doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.s) have historically faced an uphill battle to gain professional legitimacy and credibility in a U.S. medical culture dominated by allopathic medicine. Today, struggles surrounding the negotiation of a professional osteopathic identity can be found among osteopathic medical students who actively debate the merits of a potential change in the D.O. designation. This study examines identity construction by analyzing osteopathic medical students' accounts of identity that reveal certain ways they negotiate their emerging professional selves. By merging current literature on identity negotiation from health and organizational communication, we highlight the complex relationship between the discursive construction of professional identity and the embodied and material consequences of becoming a D.O.

FLORENT RIVALS,* MATTHEW C. MIHLBACHLER,2 and NIKOS SOLOUNIAS2; ICREA-IPHES (Institut Catalh de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluci6 Social), Area de Prehistbria-Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Plaga Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain. florent.rivals@icrea.es; 2Department of Anatomy, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, New York 11568, U.S.A.; Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th street, New York 10024, U.S.A.

Most established academic medical libraries across North America employ some electronic resources to complement their massive book collections. Touro University-Nevada, a new medical university in Henderson with a College of Osteopathic Medicine and Physician Assistant program, opened its doors with a virtual library fully outfitted with electronic resources and a tiny reserve book collection. This paper describes the process of building the virtual library in seven weeks and opening it just in time for the arriving students.

This project brings contextual factors to the forefront of socialization research by investigating how medical ideology relates to the formation of the identities of students of osteopathic medicine. In particular, we investigate their attitudes toward, the role of communication and the expression of emotion in health care delivery. Through in‐depth interviews with students about their vocational development experiences, we began exploring their emergent identities as future practitioners of osteopathic medicine. Three themes emerged from a constant comparative analysis of data including (a) selecting osteopathic medicine, (b) encountering osteopathy, and (c) students’ emergent identities. These themes, and their respective sub‐themes, are discussed in terms of the story they tell about the role of technology, as developed and practiced through the scientific method, in the rationalization of professional identities.

OLIO+ is a bibliographic database designed to meet the information needs of the osteopathic medical community. Produced by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), OLIO+ is devoted exclusively to the osteopathic literature. The database is available only by subscription through AOA and may be accessed from any data terminal with modem or IBM-compatible personal computer with telecommunications software that can emulate VT100 or VT220. Apple access is also available, but some assistance from OLIO+ support staff may be necessary to modify the Apple keyboard.

This paper describes the implementation of a course to provide medical students with opportunities to understand the phenomenon of aging and to develop a comprehensive view of the unique needs and problems of the elderly. A team of faculty members representing various academic disciplines related to the study of aging or long-term care lead the students in discussing topics such as the biological, psychological and sociological aspects of aging; functional assessment; health promotion for the elderly; community perspectives in long-term care; and clinical considerations of care to the elderly. A key feature of the course is an assigned visit to an elderly individual at home. Through observing and assessing the elderly in their own home environment, students obtain a more realistic and complete comprehension of the interrelatedness of the many factors that must be considered in caring for the elderly.

In order to evaluate the impact of adding a brief unit on aging to the first‐year curriculum of a school of osteopathic medicine a quasiexperimental design was employed. The educational experience involved three hours of classroom material, a visit to a nursing home, and a visit to a congregate housing facility for the well elderly. Over one semester the entire first‐year class was scheduled for the program. Analysis of pretest and posttest data revealed a mild but significant improvement in knowledge and attitudes with respect to the elderly. Subjective responses to the program were very positive.

This paper describes and analysies the use of a delphi research methodology to assess faculty perceptions of institutional needs and goals in an osteopathic medical education program. Use of the delphi to educate faculty in the administrative and political functioning of the institution as well as to involve all faculty in the refinement of specific needs and goals is discussed. Full‐time clinical and basic science faculty of the New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine provided an example of the varied uses of the delphi research methodology in higher education and specifically in profesiional higher education. The three rounds of the delphi procedure produced faculty consensus on the following institutional variable items: (a) the philosophical and functional orientation of the curriculum; (b) location and design of the physical campus facilities and environment; (c) faculty issues of tenure, promotion, salary and merit; (d) teaching, and the evaluation of teaching; (e) student characteristics...

(1980). Osteopathic Medicine—Origins and Outlook. Postgraduate Medicine: Vol. 68, No. 5, pp. 31-33.