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American College of Osteopathic Surgeons' Neurological Surgery Section BroMenn Regional Medical Center Bloomington, Ill

To the Editor:
We in the Neurological Surgery Section of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons were rather surprised by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)-approved residency program statistics for our specialty that appeared in Table 7 of the November 2004 issue of JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (Obradovic JL et al. Osteopathic graduate medical education. 2004;104:476-477). The number of programs listed for the 2003–2004 academic year was incorrect. We have 9 AOA-approved accredited programs, not 10. In addition, both the number of positions (listed as 53) and the number of residents (listed as 32) seemed very low to us.

In anticipation of similar statistics being published for the 2004–2005 academic year, we submit the following figures, which were obtained from our program directors in early 2005:

• Number of programs: 9
  
• Number of positions: 60
  
• Number of residents: 45
  
• Number of interns (tracked and untracked): 5
  

These statistics give a utilization rate for neurological surgery positions of 75% (not counting the interns) or 83% (counting the interns). Not only are these figures substantially higher than the rate indicated by the statistics in the JAOA table (60%), but they are also much higher than the average utilization rate for all specialties (51%, per Table 7) and higher than every other individual specialty except otolaryngology/facial plastic surgery (96%, including interns).

We are very proud of the success of our program directors in recruiting, retaining, and training adequate numbers of residents to sustain viable programs. We look forward to seeing accurate figures in the 2004–2005 residency program statistics published by the JAOA.

Editor's note: JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association and the American Osteopathic Association's Department of Education are pleased to announce that we have jointly decided to postpone publication of the 2005 annual medical education issue of JAOA. Beginning in February 2006, this annual issue will be published in February, instead of November, to better coincide with the annual release of data for the previous academic year.

 

Footnotes
As the premier scholarly publication of the osteopathic medical profession, JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association encourages osteopathic physicians, faculty members and students at osteopathic medical colleges, and others within the healthcare professions to submit comments related to articles published in JAOA and the mission of the osteopathic medical profession. The JAOA's editors are particularly interested in letters that discuss recently published original research.

Letters to the editor are considered for publication in JAOA with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere and that they are not simultaneously under consideration by any other publication.

All accepted letters to the editor are subject to copyediting. Letter writers may be asked to provide JAOA staff with photocopies of referenced material so that the references themselves and statements cited may be verified.

Readers are encouraged to prepare letters electronically in Microsoft Word (.doc) or in plain (.txt) or rich text (.rtf) format. The JAOA prefers that letters be e-mailed to jaoa{at}osteopathic.org. Mailed letters should also be sent electronically, in one of the aforementioned electronic formats on an IBM-compatible CD or a 3-inch disk, and addressed to Gilbert E. D'Alonzo, Jr, DO, Editor in Chief, American Osteopathic Association, 142 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60611-2864.

Letter writers must include their full professional titles and affiliations, complete preferred mailing addresses, day and evening telephone numbers, fax numbers, and preferred e-mail addresses. Authors are responsible for disclosing financial associations and other conflicts of interest.

Although JAOA cannot acknowledge the receipt of letters, a JAOA staff member will notify writers whose letters have been accepted for publication. Mailed submissions and supporting materials will not be returned unless authors provide self-addressed, stamped envelopes with their submissions.

All osteopathic physicians who have letters published in JAOA receive continuing medical education (CME) credit for their contributions. Writers of original letters receive 5 hours of AOA Category 1-B CME credit. Authors of published articles who respond to letters about their research receive 3 hours of Category 1-B CME credit for their responses.

Although JAOA welcomes letters to the editor, readers should be aware that these contributions have a lower publication priority than other submissions. As a consequence, letters are published only when space allows.

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