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Amy J. Keenum, DO, PharmD, Editor, Osteopathic Family Physician


In the current issue of Osteopathic Family Physician, two articles about residents are featured. One is about mandating a simulation component in residency training and the other looks into burnout and depression rates among residents. As simulation is now mandated for residency training in other disciplines of medicine

e.g. surgery, the authors suggest that simulation should be mandatory in the training of osteopathic family physicians. The second article, while having a low response rate, concludes that osteopathic family medicine residents are generally burned out and have tendencies toward depression before they finish residency. What does that say about the way we go about our training and our work?

Recently while talking with a pediatric colleague on call, we discussed a phone conversation that had taken place with a parent about constipation and it occurred to me that this conversation rarely happens on the phone with or about adults. But in the office or the nursing home constipation is often a topic of conversation. Patients also talk about traveler’s constipation though more is written about its famous opposite, traveler’s diarrhea. This edition includes an article about constipation with a focus on osteopathic considerations.

An uncommon condition is featured in the article, Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis. It was taught in three courses in my osteopathic medical school but I have yet to see a case in my practice, though a friend’s father did have it. The article includes an embedded case report to add interest.

The ins and outs of family planning are something all osteopathic family physicians need to know. All forms of contraception should be understood, including natural family planning, in order to have an intelligent conversation about contraception with your patients This issue includes a review article on natural family planning, with the heads up that that failure rates of each method should be presented to patients.