General practice residency training and the osteopathic profession: trends and issues for the 1990s.

With the 1989-1990 training year, the length of postinternship residency training in osteopathic general practice will increase from 1 to 2 years. The longer residency is expected to give trainees a more complete and more competitive education and to protect them against discrimination regarding hospital privileges. With this change comes the opportunity to evaluate the current status of residency training in the field and to use the data as the basis for making rational predictions and recommendations for the future of the specialty. The author considers the effect of curriculum changes on the operation of training residents in osteopathic general practice. He examines the structure of the new training program and discusses issues pertaining to osteopathic general practice.