Osteopathic Experience

I was first exposed to Osteopathic medicine in 2009 when I attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine and was selected to visit UNE COM. There, I was introduced to what I feel to be the many benefits of an Osteopathic education, the first one being the importance of making patient contact. According to the medical student presenter, Osteopathic medical schools pride themselves on having medical students actually touch people (other medical students at first) early in their practice, as having students touch people towards the end of their medical school education leaves them ill prepared when entering residency. The second benefit discussed was the holistic approach of Osteopathic medicine. At the forum, the medical students demonstrated some osteopathic manipulative treatment techniques, and allowed us to practice on each other. While demonstrating, the medical students discussed the importance of relying on a whole-person approach to medicine rather than just treating individual symptoms and ailments with medication. This type of thinking was vital in my emergency medical services career, in which I was able to
Mark Merlin and Dr. Joseph Katora at the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. I attended weekly journal clubs to examine pre-hospital emergency medical care articles, shadowed in the EMS physician vehicle, assisted with EMS calls and was able to observe physician discussions regarding best medical action for particular patients, possible outcomes, and ways to combat larger problems of poverty and non-compliance. I was invited by Dr. Merlin to have a volunteer role in the URINATE Trial (designed to identify the proper antibiotics for bacterial infections most common to Newark, NJ) and was responsible for reviewing patient charts and obtaining patient consent. What was most striking about Dr. Merlin is the advice he gave me in our first meeting. According to Dr.