Later class outperforms the national average, too
Graduating from medical school is a worthy achievement, but members of DMU’s osteopathic medical Class of 2016 did something even better – they achieved a 100 percent first-time pass rate on Level 3 of the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination, or COMLEX, the licensure examination for osteopathic physicians in the United States.
Administered by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners Inc., COMLEX entails three levels that osteopathic medical students take during and after their medical education. The nation’s 2016 osteopathic medical school graduates recently completed the third level of the exam, which presented takers with 370 test questions in two four-hour sessions to assess their ability to apply knowledge of biomedical and osteopathic concepts required to make appropriate patient management decisions.
DMU’s Class of 2016 was the nation’s best and only class to achieve a 100 percent first-time pass rate.
Also noteworthy are the 221 scores reported by the Class of 2019, which turned in a 99.6 percent pass rate on COMLEX Level 1, up from 95.7 percent last year. Nearly 20 percent of these students tested one standard deviation above the national mean on the Level 1 examination.
These board achievements place DMU students above the national average.
“The scores reflect the quality of our students and dedicated team of faculty, staff, preceptors and alumni who support them in their effort to be the best they can be,” says Gregory Christiansen, D.O., M.Ed., FACOEP-D, dean of DMU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. “It is a wonderful experience to see the hard work pay off.”
For 2016 DMU graduate Ben Rezny, now a resident in the University of Tennessee emergency medicine residency program in Nashville, the success of his class on the COMLEX exam reflects the quality of the University’s supportive culture.
“From the moment I first stepped on campus and interviewed at DMU, I realized this was an environment that was going to foster success. This feeling was reinforced throughout our DMU experience as they taught us the skills to grow academically and develop into successful physicians,” he says. “The DMU community lives its commitment to student success; and the importance of doing well on board exams is just one of many shared values our class embraced and made a reality.”
Christiansen praised DMU students for proving themselves “to be the best in the country.”
“These impressive men and women embody the tradition of being DMU proud,” he adds. “Their success on the board examinations is just a harbinger of the amazing future these students will have in advancing health care to our global community.”
