Pre-Medical Preparation in Microbiology among Applicants and Matriculants in Osteopathic Medical School in the United States

J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2017 Dec 1;18(3):18.3.61. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v18i3.1372. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

It is recognized that medical school curricula contain significant microbiology-related content as part of the training of future physicians who will be responsible stewards of antimicrobials. Surprisingly, osteopathic and allopathic medical schools do not require pre-medical microbiology coursework, and the extent to which medical students have completed microbiology coursework remains poorly understood. In this report, we show that fewer than 3% of applicants and matriculants to osteopathic medical school (OMS) have completed an undergraduate major or minor in microbiology, and fewer than 17% of applicants and matriculants to OMS have completed one or more microbiology-related courses. These data demonstrate limited pre-medical microbiology-related knowledge among osteopathic medical students, which may be associated with an increase in perceived stress when learning this content or during clinical rotations as well as a potential lack of interest in pursuing a career in infectious diseases.