Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Chris Breedlove and Asa Keimig, LUCOM Marketing |
Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM)-Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association (SOIMA) hosted Robert Hasty, DO, FACOI, FACP, on Thursday Sept. 19, at the Center for Medical and Health Sciences on the campus of Liberty University. As the founding dean and chief academic officer of the Kansas Health Science Center proposed Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Hasty visited LUCOM to present on the topic of internal medicine and the requirements of getting into an internal medicine residency program.
His presentation, “How to Get Into Residency/ACOI” provided evidence and strategies to help osteopathic medical students get into their desired residency programs. “Overall, I hope students walked away with some general skills that will help them with their preparation and application process for residency programs,” said Dr. Hasty.
He also showcased ways that the American College of Osteopathic Internists (ACOI) could help serve them in the future. ACOI promotes distinctive osteopathic care for adults and seeks to be first organization that osteopathic physicians think of for education, information, representation, and service to the profession.
A key component to his presentation was the marketability of osteopathic physicians. “Graduating osteopathic physicians are highly desirable to residency programs and the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree has one of the highest job place rates (i.e. residency placement) of any degree,” added Dr. Hasty.
According to his research, the top five most competitive residency for Osteopathic physicians are: Interventional Radiology, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Dermatology, and General Surgery.
“If you get into the right residency program, it’s going to make all the difference in the world,” said Dr. Hasty. “Ninety-eight percent of DO graduates nationally seeking GME attained a residency program.” He encouraged medical students how to not fall into the 1.5%. “Top five factors for selecting applicants for interview with a residency program are: COMLEX Level 1 Score, Letters of Recommendation (LORs), COMLEX Level 2 Score, Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), and a strong Personal Statement.”
Dr. Hasty encouraged both first- and second-year students to prepare ahead of time, by knowing the specialty they want to enter, interactions with faculty to gain LORs, and doing research on and investigating residency programs.
“LUCOM has a great reputation in the osteopathic medical education world,” said Dr. Hasty. “LUCOM is fortunate to have such a great administration, faculty and staff. I have known Dean Bell for a number of years and LUCOM is so fortunate to have him and his innovative leadership.”
Top 10 recommendations on how to get into residency:
- Do well on the boards
- Study 2 hours every night on rotations
- Word hard on every rotation/attendance/attire
- Residency choice by January 1 (OMS-III)
- Strategic golden months
- Interview for at least nine programs
- Excellent and friendly follow-up with Residency Coordinators
- Don’t do stupid stuff on Facebook
- Study hard for Level 2
- Stay on track