pathic auspices. Appointment and promotion of the administrative staff and the faculty shall be made by the board of trustees upon those recommendations of its executive officers developed after consultation with proper faculty representatives. A competent_teaching faculty shall be selected and it shall be organized into departments. In addition to other qualifications, consideration should be given to training, teaching experience, and ability or desire to engage in research. The faculty should include an adequate number of full-time teachers of professorial rank in all major departments. There should be an adequate number of assistants in the laboratory courses. Faculty members should have a reasonable security and tenure. A system of student counseling with qualified advisers shall be established and opportunity for frequent consultation between members of the faculty and of the student body shall be provided. Faculty meetings shall be held at stated intervals. Standing committees of the faculty shall be appointed and charged with their responsibilities. A catalog shall be published at least every other year and include the following: courses offered, time schedules, faculty members, entrance requirements, tuition fees, list of current students, and such general information as is necessary to the student body. FACILITIES A college must have for its exclusive use permanent and properly maintained buildings to provide adequate lecture rooms, teaching and research laboratories, library, clinics, storage and record rooms, adequate offices for necessary personnel, and a hospital which provides inpatient and outpatient facilities. These facilities will determine the number of students for which the institution can adequately provide an educational program. The medical library shall include current texts, reference books, and the periodicals needed in the teaching and research program. A qualified librarian shall be employed to supervise and develop the library. Each college shall operate or have access to an adequate outpatient department. Histories and records in this department shall be maintained and utilized as teaching material. It shall be so organized that patients may be cared for in the outpatient department or in their homes. An osteopathic college must have access, for teaching purposes, to a general hospital or hospitals affiliated with, or under control of, the college. The college shall appoint those who direct the clinical teaching and shall supervise the staff concerned with teaching in such hospitals in order that students may be properly guided in their contact with patients. Students shall have the opportunity to observe and study a wide variety of diseases ranging from the common case problems to the complex and rare conditions. They shall also have practical experience in preventive medicine and public health problems. The material available shall be used to its greatest teaching value. The teaching program shall be so organized as to afford a maximum of individual instruction. Each institution should have a museum of pathological and anatomical specimens, and such adjuncts, including audiovisual aids, as are desirable for effective teaching. A sufficient number of cadavers should be provided so that every two students may dissect at least a lateral half. A supply of animals should be provided for use in the college laboratories. Adequate provision should be made for their care and housing. STUDENTS A minimum of 3 years of education in a college or university accredited by a regional educational association is required for admission to professional education in an osteopathic college. In exceptional cases, an osteopathic college may re1 Undergraduate college programs are accredited by the following six regional educational associations: Middle States Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools New England Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools North Central Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools Northwest Association of Secondary & Higher Schools Southern Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools Western College Association. quest that the academic credentials of a highly qualified student, who has conpleted his undergraduate studies in a college or university not accredited by a regional educational association, be evaluated by the American Osteopath Association, provided that such a college or university is accredited by its State department of education. Approval of such credentials must be obtained before admission of any such student to an osteopathic college. Each such case shall be considered upon an individual basis. All approved undergraduate colleges require high school graduation or its equivalent for admission. The minimum credits in the following basic subjects are required, prior to admission to an osteopathic college: English, 6 semester hours; physics, 8 semester hours; biology, 8 semester hours; 2 inorganic chemistry, 8 semester hours, organic chemistry, a completed course, including both the aliphatic and benzene compounds. It is desirable that the elective subjects afford a broad educational and cultural background. All transcripts of records from undergraduate and professional colleges shall be obtained directly from such colleges. Transcripts presented directly by the applicant will not be acceptable. In addition to the academic requirements listed above, applicants to osteopathie colleges shall be selected on the basis of academic performance, motivation toward the healing arts and personal qualifications. The American Council on Education has evaluated the content and quality of the various educational programs conducted by the Armed Forces and has issued a "Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Forces" to assist educational institutions, desiring to do so, to award proper college credits for specific courses taken in these programs. The following statement is accepted by the American Osteopathic Association as a basis for the evaluation of equivalency of college credits: College credits (except in science courses requiring laboratory work or except blanket credits for military services not based on courses or examinations) may be based either on (a) courses taken from the Armed Forces Institute or inservice courses of the Armed Forces according to the "Guide to the Evaluation of Eduestional Experiences in the Armed Forces" of the American Council on Education, or (b) performance in the General Educational Development Tests of the American Council on Education. With the consent of the American Osteopathic Association, upon due individual consideration, not more than 2 years of advanced time credit may be accorded to students presenting credentials from other than osteopathic professional schools. Neither time credit nor subject credit shall be accorded, unless such credit can unmistakably be interpreted as the equivalent of courses in the same subjects over the same period of time in the osteopathic college which grants the credit. In no case shall consideration for advanced credit be given to such a student in the event that he is ineligible for readmission to his previous college. Credits to be granted and regulations to be followed in the transference of students from one osteopathic college to another shall be in accordance with the regulations of the American Osteopathic Association and the American Association of Osteopathic Colleges. Graduates must be at least 21 years of age at the time of graduation. Students shall be required to be in actual attendance within the first week of each term for which they receive credit. Each student shall be required to be in actual attendance in the institution during the 4 years required for his professional study unless time credit has been accorded for work actually pursued in attendance at another osteopathic college approved by the American Osteopathic Association or in other similarly approved colleges. Students shall complete at least the last year of their professional course in the college which confers the degree. No credit shall be accorded in courses where the record indicates attendance of less than 80 percent. Records of preliminary education and certification thereof shall be kept on file permanently and be available for examination by proper officials. The system of records must show in detail throughout the college course the attendance record, grade, and any other notations useful in evaluating each student. 2 Or a complete year's course in the undergraduate college involved. CURRICULUM The curriculum in an osteopathic college should be designed to provide medical education and training for the development of a physician. Each college shall develop individualized courses that will serve this purpose in accordance with academic standards of professional education. Since the osteopathic profession and its colleges maintain their independence distinction in the general field of medicine because of the contribution which osteopathy makes to the prevention, the diagnosis, and the treatment of disease, and because the importance of maintaining the structural integrity of the body should be recognized and emphasized in all departments of practice, approved osteopathic colleges are required to give adequate and comprehensive training in the principles and practice of osteopathic diagnosis and therapeutics. Each college is required to include a course or courses dealing with the history and development of the osteopathic profession which shall incorporate the scientific growth, alteration, and development of the osteopathic theory and practice, and shall include those diagnostic and therapeutic procedures developed by the osteopathic profession. The curriculum of an osteopathic college shall consist of at least 4 academic years totaling at least 5,000 hours and shall include adequate and comprehensive instruction in: EDUCATIONAL CRITERIA FOR CLINICAL CLERKSHIP IN HOSPITAL AND THE OUT PATIENT SERVICES The clerkship program must provide educational experience in the various departments of the hospital. There must be a definite program of instruction including case recording and study, clinical observation, collateral reading, didactic work, and a regular program of staff lectures and clinical conferences. There must be adequate daily supervision of the student, and his progress must be reported regularly to the responsible administrative officer. A properly qualified individual must be designated as in charge of the clerkships in the teaching hospital of the college or an affiliated institution. This individual should be directly responsible to the dean of the college. Clinical clerkship programs in hospitals which are not on the campus of an osteopathic college and not under the immediate authority of the college administration shall be approved only in hospitals having the approval of the American Osteopathic Association for either intern or residency training or both. The clinical faculty in the affiliated teaching hospitals must be composed of qualified members properly integrated into the faculty of the college. The sufficiency and diversity of clinical material in the teaching hospitals should determine the number of students to be trained at any one time. Facilities for clinical clerkship education under the immediate authority of the college which fall in categories other than outpatient departments and teaching hospitals shall be inspected and appraised for approval on an individual basis. All members of the staffs of hospitals approved for clerkship training shall be members of the American Osteopathic Association. Under certain circumstances and under conditions approved by the bureau of professional education, special programs of study may be provided for students that may be exempted from this regulation. DEGREES The board of trustees of an approved college of osteopathy shall confer the degree of doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) upon those students who have satisfactorily completed the required courses of instruction and who have been recommended for graduation by the faculty. An approved osteopathic college may also grant honorary degrees or degrees. in-course of such nature as shall be warranted by programs of study undertaken in whole or in part in the college or under its auspices. (Whereupon, at 11:30 a.m., the committee recessed, subject to the call of the Chair.) |