West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine - Curriculum

Curriculum

WVSOM was founded on the principles of osteopathic medicine, a branch of medicine founded by frontiersman Andrew Taylor Still in the mid-to-late 19th century. The basic premise of osteopathic medicine is that a physician’s primary role is to facilitate the body’s inherent ability to heal itself. While originally designed as an improvement on the traditional medicine of 19th century America, osteopathic medicine became a reformation within the U.S. healthcare system while remaining distinct from other forms of medicine. In addition to a medical education, students at WVSOM also learn holistic techniques and are trained in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM), manual-based therapies used to relieve pain, restore range of motion and foster the body’s own ability to heal itself. Medical school at WVSOM is a four-year program, with two years of training located at the Lewisburg-based campus and the final two years taking place off-campus during clinical rotations. WVSOM offers two curricular choices based on a person’s individual learning style: Systems Based Learning (SBL)—a conventional curricular track, incorporating lectures, labs and clinical experiences—and Problem Based Learning (PBL)—a program that relies on small group and student-directed learning that identifies clinical problems, using a hands-on approach to learning osteopathic skills. WVSOM uses human subject robots as part of its training. The lifelike robots breath, cry, defecate, bleed and are anatomically correct, allowing students to practice nearly every aspect of patient care, including checking vital signs, inserting a chest tube and performing CPR.