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In addition to its primary mission of providing medical care to an under-served rural population, Pershing Memorial is a teaching hospital. By virtue of its agreements with the University of Missouri-Columbia, UMKC, and A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Pershing Health System—and particularly the Community Medical Associates clinic located within Pershing Memorial Hospital—serves as a hands-on ‘classroom’ for aspiring physicians.
Currently, Nicholas Hopson, a third-year medical student attending A.T. Still University, is doing his ‘clinicals’ (i.e., practical experience in a clinical setting) at Community Medical Associates. ‘Nick’ has also done clinicals in St. Louis and southern Iowa. For the next couple of weeks, he will spend his days at Pershing Memorial Hospital making rounds with a physician, compiling patient histories and giving physical exams. Some of his evenings are spent in the emergency room. He describes his medical education as something akin to “taking a blast in the face from a fire hose.” It’s a lot to take in all at once, and it requires extraordinary dedication.
Hopson, who is a native of Washington state pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) degree, chose A.T. Still University because it is the birthplace of the world’s first osteopathic medical school. Founded by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still in 1892, A.T. Still University—or the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, as it was originally called—was established “to educate students to become competent healthcare professionals...while advancing osteopathic principles and philosophy.” Hopson explains that osteopathic medicine originally distinguished itself from traditional or allopathic medicine by taking a more ‘holistic’ approach to disease that sought to heal the mind and spirit as well as the body. The A.T. Still medical student elaborates, “In addition to the same core training students working toward an MD receive, we are familiarized in the methods of Manipulative Medicine to use our hands to treat pain in the neck and back.” Appropriately, the term ‘osteopathy’ came from blending the Greek roots osteon, which means ‘bone,’ and pathos, which means ‘suffering,’ and a traditional osteopathic surgeon focused on the musculoskeletal system (i.e., bones and joints) and tried to avoid the negative side-effects of prescribed medications. Although the first osteopaths were met with rejection by the mainstream medical profession, the schism between allopathic and osteopathic medicine has since become less pronounced, and today osteopaths have to meet the same rigorous standards to become licensed physicians as more traditional doctors. Today’s osteopath performs manipulations akin to those used in chiropractic but also possesses the full range of medical skills applied by a physician. Hopson explains, “Unlike today’s chiropractors, who only treat somatic [ie, muscle, bone, spine] dysfunctions, osteopaths are currently trained in the more invasive techniques of traditional internal medicine as well. We can prescribe medicine and are familiar with the use of modern medical diagnostic technology.”
In addition to its primary mission of providing medical care to an under-served rural population, Pershing Memorial is a teaching hospital. By virtue of its agreements with the University of Missouri-Columbia, UMKC, and A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Pershing Health System—and particularly the Community Medical Associates clinic located within Pershing Memorial Hospital—serves as a hands-on ‘classroom’ for aspiring physicians.
Currently, Nicholas Hopson, a third-year medical student attending A.T. Still University, is doing his ‘clinicals’ (i.e., practical experience in a clinical setting) at Community Medical Associates. ‘Nick’ has also done clinicals in St. Louis and southern Iowa. For the next couple of weeks, he will spend his days at Pershing Memorial Hospital making rounds with a physician, compiling patient histories and giving physical exams. Some of his evenings are spent in the emergency room. He describes his medical education as something akin to “taking a blast in the face from a fire hose.” It’s a lot to take in all at once, and it requires extraordinary dedication.
Hopson, who is a native of Washington state pursuing a Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) degree, chose A.T. Still University because it is the birthplace of the world’s first osteopathic medical school. Founded by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still in 1892, A.T. Still University—or the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, as it was originally called—was established “to educate students to become competent healthcare professionals...while advancing osteopathic principles and philosophy.” Hopson explains that osteopathic medicine originally distinguished itself from traditional or allopathic medicine by taking a more ‘holistic’ approach to disease that sought to heal the mind and spirit as well as the body. The A.T. Still medical student elaborates, “In addition to the same core training students working toward an MD receive, we are familiarized in the methods of Manipulative Medicine to use our hands to treat pain in the neck and back.” Appropriately, the term ‘osteopathy’ came from blending the Greek roots osteon, which means ‘bone,’ and pathos, which means ‘suffering,’ and a traditional osteopathic surgeon focused on the musculoskeletal system (i.e., bones and joints) and tried to avoid the negative side-effects of prescribed medications. Although the first osteopaths were met with rejection by the mainstream medical profession, the schism between allopathic and osteopathic medicine has since become less pronounced, and today osteopaths have to meet the same rigorous standards to become licensed physicians as more traditional doctors. Today’s osteopath performs manipulations akin to those used in chiropractic but also possesses the full range of medical skills applied by a physician. Hopson explains, “Unlike today’s chiropractors, who only treat somatic [ie, muscle, bone, spine] dysfunctions, osteopaths are currently trained in the more invasive techniques of traditional internal medicine as well. We can prescribe medicine and are familiar with the use of modern medical diagnostic technology.”
