Single GME accreditation and the future of osteopathic medicine

Family medicine physicians Jennifer W. Swoyer, DO, and Deborah S. Clements, MD, offer their perspective on the future of the osteopathic profession this month in The Annals of Family Medicine, a publication of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors.

Five years after the AOA, AACOM and ACGME agreed to pursue a single graduate medical education accreditation system, Drs. Swoyer and Clements contemplate what the legacy of osteopathic residency accreditation will be.

They write: “With osteopathic medical schools continuing to contribute approximately 40% of their graduates to family medicine, how do we fulfill the promise of the Osteopathic Oath? How do we ensure that future generations of physicians can believe in, teach, and apply the tenets of osteopathy?”

The simple answer lies in osteopathic recognition, write the physicians, who would like to see each and every one of ACGME’s family medicine residency programs obtain it. You can read the full essay here.