Volume 104, Issue 8

Context: Tobacco use has been identified as the primary preventable cause of premature deaths and disability, yet results of a previous survey show that undergraduate allopathic medical schools do not adequately address this topic. Objective: To assess the content and extent of tobacco education and intervention skills in osteopathic medical schools' curricula. Design: A mailed survey with 19 questions similar to one used for allopathic medical schools. Setting: Nineteen osteopathic medical schools. Participants: Responses were obtained from each associate dean for medical education or representative. Main Outcome Measures: Curriculum in seven basic science and six clinical science content areas (elective or required), hours of tobacco use intervention education, and resource materials used to design curricula. Results: Average number of total content areas covered was 10.2 (6 ± 1.6 basic science areas, 4.17 ± 1.54 clinical areas) with a range of 2 to 13. Nine (47%) schools reported covering all seven basic science areas, and one school reported covering none. Eleven (64.7%) of seventeen schools reported less than 3 hours of training in tobacco dependence treatment techniques during all 4 years. Sixty percent of schools do not require clinical training in smoking cessation techniques. Thirty-six percent require clinical training in an artificial setting without patients. None of the schools require clinical training with live patients. The schools founded after 1920 covered an average of almost twice as many content areas as those founded before 1920 (11.1 vs 6.6; P = .018). Conclusions: Most US osteopathic medical school graduates are not being adequately educated to treat nicotine dependence as recommended by the National Cancer Institute expert panel and the Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline. Specifically, osteopathic medical education is deficient in clinical nicotine dependence treatment during the third and fourth years.

The findings in this report reprinted from a 2004 issue of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention's MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report help to support the need for a comprehensive approach to smoking cessation that includes educational strategies to reduce further the prevalence of smoking.

The findings in this report reprinted from a 2003 issue of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention's MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report summarize the results of an analysis of data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Results indicate a significant decline in the prevalence pattern of lifetime cigarette use, current cigarette use, and current frequent cigarette use among high school students by 2003.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between preadmission academic variables, osteopathic medical school performance in the first 2 years, and performance on the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX–USA) Levels 1 and 2. The study group comprised 174 students in the class of 2001 of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of the New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury. Preadmission academic variables were the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) subscores and undergraduate grade point averages (UGPAs). Physical sciences (physical MCAT) and biological sciences MCAT (biological MCAT) subscores were significantly correlated with COMLEX–USA Level 1 performance, and verbal reasoning, physical, and biological MCAT subscores were correlated with Level 2 performance. COMLEX–USA Level 1 performance was correlated with the year 1 grade point average (GPA) (0.78) and the year 2 GPA (0.83). COMLEX–USA Level 2 performance was correlated with the year 1 GPA (0.64) and the year 2 GPA (0.68). Strong correlations existed between all year 1 and most year 2 course grades and COMLEX–USA Level 1 scores. School-specific regression models that were highly predictive of school performance and COMLEX-USA Level 1 performance were developed. COMLEX–USA Level 1 predictive models used preadmission variables combined with the year 1 and year 2 course grades. The year 2 courses' model had a higher predictive value for COMLEX–USA Level 1 performance ( R 2 = 0.81) than the year 1 courses' model ( R 2 = 0.77). Significant predictors of COMLEX–USA Level 1 performance in the combined year 1 and 2 courses' model were the pharmacology II, neuropathology, and pulmonary pathology grades, and the verbal and physical MCAT subscores ( R 2 = 0.820).