MAPS-SNMA ShaD.O.w D.O. Day Rowan SOM Pipeline Program: A Pilot Study

Prior to being a medical student, a majority of pre-medical students have not encountered the course load intensity, academic rigor, and time management required by a medical school curriculum. Diversifying the workforce has been shown to have benefits, especially at the micro or patient level, since having racial or ethnic concordance between providers and patients has been associated with increased levels of satisfaction and improvements in certain clinical outcomes. The number of MDs increased to 841,321 or 91.8% versus 72,961 DOs or 8.0% creating the need for minorities to be knowledgeable of both MD and DO paths to becoming a physician. To provide more knowledge of osteopathic medicine and osteopathic physicians, the Minority Association of Premedical Students (M.A.P.S.) and the the Student National Medical Association (S.N.M.A.) of Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine have implemented a ShaDOw DO Day program for the graduate students of Rowan University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The ShaDOw DO Day program will give MAPS students the opportunity to witness the resilience, discipline, and motivation that successful medical students possess.This program will also provide MAPS students with the opportunity to explore a potential career in medicine. Students will gain a perspective on osteopathic principles and osteopathic manipulative medicine. Participants of the program will also be introduced to the quality education an osteopathic medical school such as RowanSOM instills in its students to produce competent and compassionate physicians. Therefore, it is imperative that graduate students learn from medical students to increase their knowledge of osteopathic medicine. To analyze the effectiveness of this program, pre-assessment and post-assessment surveys were given to the participants. Overall, an increase in the understanding of osteopathic medicine and consideration of a career in a health profession and/or medicine was observed demonstrating both the need and success of our program initiative