I apologize that I took last week off from my blog, as I was at another campus interviewing osteopathic medical students for my dissertation. My study is evaluating the impact that a female-majority medical school population may have on the profession. While the details of my interviews are confidential, I thought I would share with you some general perspectives on talking with D.O. students from another school.

Osteopathic medical students reflect a broad age range. The osteopathic profession has always prided itself on welcoming nontraditional students to its colleges. The overall statistics from all D.O. schools show that 55% of students are 20 to 29 years old, while 45% are older than 30 years old. This was true of the students I talked to last week. Clearly, these students often have different challenges than their younger classmates, such as balancing family demands of spouses and children and evaluating residency choices in terms of time to completion. However, these students also bring enriched perspectives and life experiences to the table. Many of them are looked to for advice from their younger classmates. The entire class benefits from having representatives across the age spectrum (the same holds true for gender, race, and class diversity).

Osteopathic medical students are committed to the profession. Even in their first year of training, these students specifically sought out and have embraced the unique holistic and patient-centered practice of osteopathic medicine. They want to build connections with their patients and serve their best interests. They are pursuing medicine in order to touch patient's lives. While certainly they may have other motivations (ie, interest in research, wanting to earn a good salary, wanting an in-demand career), their primary desire is to treat and take care of patients. They are entering medicine for the right reasons.

Osteopathic medical students work hard to lead well-rounded lives. Without question, medical school is demanding. But I was amazed at how these students were able to balance rigorous academic courses with volunteering, family time, and taking care of themselves whether through exercise or spending time with friends or other hobbies and activities. Going to medical school requires commitment and focus, but it doesn't mean you have to give up your entire "real life." With good time management, you can find balance between school and life. Many students emphasized the importance of listening to your body and your mind and making sure all of your needs were being considered. That, in fact, is the foundation of osteopathic medicine and a lesson that students should heed.

Osteopathic medical students are really nice people. I was so grateful to these students who gave me an hour of their busy time to talk with me about my research project. Many were in the midst of studying for boards, while others were taking summer classes. They all were genuinely nice people who wanted to help me out. I actually enjoyed the conversations with them much more than I expected. They were smart, interesting, and perceptive. My study will definitely benefit from their involvement.

Several of the participants asked what I expected to find through my research. To be honest, I am waiting to gather all of my data to define my thesis. In general, I am learning that this generation of medical students has different expectations of their careers than previous generations. They want medicine to be more family-friendly for practitioners. They want to find balance between career and family. This is not only because of the equal or majority numbers of women entering medical school, but these are goals shared by both genders. I'm not yet sure how the profession can or should respond to this new generation, but I think changes will be coming to the training and practice of medicine in the next several years.

I'm back to the blog this week, and off again next week for another campus trip. I hope you are all enjoying your summer.