Binstock Judith, Junsanto-Bahri Tipsuda
MA, Department of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, 230 W 125th St, Room 445, New York, NY 10027-4402.
J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2014 Apr;114(4):242-51. doi: 10.7556/jaoa.2014.049.
The relevance of current standard medical school science prerequisites is being reexamined.
(1) To identify which science prerequisites are perceived to best prepare osteopathic medical students for their basic science and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) coursework and (2) to determine whether science prerequisites for osteopathic medical school should be modified.
Preclinical osteopathic medical students and their basic science and OMM faculty from 3 colleges of osteopathic medicine were surveyed about the importance of specific science concepts, laboratories, and research techniques to medical school coursework. Participants chose responses on a 5-point scale, with 1 indicating "strongly disagree" or "not important" and 5 indicating "strongly agree" or "extremely important." Participants were also surveryed on possible prerequisite modifications.
Student responses (N=264) to the general statement regarding prerequisites were "neutral" for basic science coursework and "disagree" for OMM coursework, with mean (standard deviation [SD]) scores of 3.37 (1.1) and 2.68 (1.2), respectively. Faculty responses (N=49) were similar, with mean (SD) scores of 3.18 (1.1) for basic science coursework and 2.67 (1.2) for OMM coursework. Student mean (SD) scores were highest for general biology for basic science coursework (3.93 [1.1]) and physics for OMM coursework (2.5 [1.1]). Student mean (SD) scores were lowest for physics for basic science coursework (1.79 [1.2]) and organic chemistry for OMM coursework (1.2 [0.7]). Both basic science and OMM faculty rated general biology highest in importance (mean [SD] scores, 3.73 [0.9] and 4.22 [1.0], respectively). Students and faculty rated biochemistry high in importance for basic science coursework (mean [SD] scores of 3.66 [1.2] and 3.32 [1.2], respectively). For basic science coursework, students and faculty rated most laboratories as "important," with the highest mean (SD) ratings for general anatomy (students, 3.66 [1.5]; faculty, 3.72 [1.1]) and physiology (students, 3.56 [1.7]; faculty, 3.61 [1.1]). For their OMM coursework, students rated only general anatomy and physiology laboratories as "important" (mean [SD] scores, 3.22 [1.8] and 2.61 [1.6], respectively), whereas OMM faculty rated all laboratories as "important" (mean scores, >3). Both student and faculty respondents rated research techniques higher in importance for basic science coursework than for OMM coursework. For prerequisite modifications, all respondents indicated "no change" for biology and "reduce content" for organic chemistry and physics. All respondents favored adding physiology and biochemistry as prerequisites.
General biology and laboratory were the only standard prerequisites rated as "important." Research techniques were rated as "important" for basic science coursework only. Physiology and biochemistry were identified as possible additions to prerequisites. It may be necessary for colleges of osteopathic medicine to modify science prerequisites to reflect information that is pertinent to their curricula.
当前医学院校科学先修课程的相关性正在重新审视。
（1）确定哪些科学先修课程被认为能最好地让整骨医学学生为基础科学课程和整骨手法医学（OMM）课程做好准备；（2）确定整骨医学院校的科学先修课程是否应进行修改。
对来自3所整骨医学院的临床前整骨医学学生及其基础科学和OMM教师就特定科学概念、实验室和研究技术对医学院课程的重要性进行了调查。参与者在5分制量表上选择答案，1表示“强烈反对”或“不重要”，5表示“强烈同意”或“极其重要”。参与者还被问及可能的先修课程修改情况。
学生（N = 264）对关于先修课程的总体陈述的回答，对于基础科学课程是“中立”的，对于OMM课程是“不同意”，平均（标准差[SD]）分数分别为3.37（1.1）和2.68（1.2）。教师（N = 49）的回答类似，基础科学课程的平均（SD）分数为3.18（1.1），OMM课程为2.67（1.2）。基础科学课程中，学生平均（SD）分数最高的是普通生物学（3.93[1.1]），OMM课程中是物理学（2.5[1.1]）。基础科学课程中，学生平均（SD）分数最低的是物理学（1.79[1.2]），OMM课程中是有机化学（1.2[0.7]）。基础科学和OMM教师都认为普通生物学的重要性最高（平均[SD]分数分别为3.73[0.9]和4.22[1.0]）。学生和教师都认为生物化学对于基础科学课程很重要（平均[SD]分数分别为3.66[1.2]和3.32[1.2]）。对于基础科学课程，学生和教师认为大多数实验室“重要”，普通解剖学的平均（SD）评分最高（学生为3.66[1.5]；教师为3.72[1.1]）和生理学（学生为3.56[1.7]；教师为3.61[1.1]）。对于他们的OMM课程，学生仅将普通解剖学和生理学实验室评为“重要”（平均[SD]分数分别为3.22[1.8]和2.61[1.6]），而OMM教师将所有实验室评为“重要”（平均分数>3）。学生和教师受访者都认为研究技术对于基础科学课程比对于OMM课程更重要。对于先修课程的修改，所有受访者表示生物学“无需改变”，有机化学和物理学“减少内容”。所有受访者都赞成增加生理学和生物化学作为先修课程。
普通生物学和实验室是唯一被评为“重要”的标准先修课程。研究技术仅被评为对基础科学课程“重要”。生理学和生物化学被确定为可能增加的先修课程。整骨医学院可能有必要修改科学先修课程，以反映与他们课程相关的信息。
