Third time is a charm as 'The 5-minute Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Consult' publishes its third edition
David C. Mason, DO, MBA, CPPS, FACOFP, is an expert and renowned for his work in Osteopathic
Medicine, and his career shows just how passionate he is about his profession. Among
all of the accolades this distinguished DO has received, there is one that might be
overlooked: three-time acclaimed author.
Mason, along with his co-author, Millicent King Channell, DO, FAAO, FNAOME, in March
published the third edition of “The 5-minute Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Consult,”
which is an update on the previous two editions that were published in 2020 and 2009.
“This has turned into a nice piece of work that I’m very proud of because of who my co-author is, someone who I’ve been friends with for 20 years,” Mason said.
His co-author, Channell, who is the vice dean for academic affairs & student services
at Rowan Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, first teamed up after Mason, who is
the chief medical officer for growth and development at UNT Health Fort Worth Clinical
Practice Group and a professor at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, helped
train her as a resident while at Rowan.
After working for a few years in his own private practice and then in the academic
setting, Mason saw the need to expand his knowledge of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment
in order to teach it. And he went on to a second board certification in Osteopathic
Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. In working with Channell, they recognized the frustration
that their students did not know how to apply OMT skills once they were in a clinical
setting. Thus, the idea for the book was born, which was first published in 2009,
with the main focus on the clinical medical education in years three and four to support
the integration of OMT into medical practice.
The book was a success beyond their imagination.
“I didn’t see where this would go, but I hoped it would get to all of the medical schools and be used in the clinical years, but we didn’t foresee how valuable it would be to those in practice and those residents trying to improve their OMT skills,” Mason said.
The pocket-sized book is set up to be a reference for students, residents and attending physicians to help provide better outcomes for their patients.
“If you can do something to help your patients by doing one or two techniques in a
five-minute treatment, you will provide them some relief. This will improve patient
satisfaction, and they will likely come back. Patients are looking for ways to get
better and stay healthy with fewer medicines or surgeries. OMT can offer that to your
patients," Mason said.
The feedback they received on the first edition spurred them into making a second
and third edition. The second edition of the book was based on the response from post-graduate
physicians and residency directors, as well as physicians in practice who found the
book useful to continue to learn to use OMT in their practice.
The book provided not only a refresher, but it also included content related to billing
and coding, which helped ease the most frequent feedback Mason and Channell heard
and is often cited in the osteopathic literature as to why DO’s may not be using OMT
in their practices.
“I’m not good enough, I don’t get paid, and I don’t have the time to do it,” said
Mason. “It’s approachable now. They don’t need 20 minutes or an hour; they can do
something to help their patient in five minutes or less.”
The third edition, which was an undertaking of around 18 months, provides updated content on references, billing, and coding, and added more teaching tools for Osteopathic Recognition programs.
They were asked to provide content for residencies that are designated Osteopathic
Recognition and content to fill in the knowledge gaps for MD trainees who may want
to integrate OMT into their practice.
There has been one more caveat to the book; it has gone worldwide. Through teaching
connections at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Yunnan
University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the first two editions of the book were
translated into Mandarin. The second edition was also translated into Japanese and
French.
“Never would I have thought it would get published in China,” Mason said. “There are several physicians from Japan who come over each year for the American Academy of Osteopathy Convocation, so they probably picked up the book and started translating it, and how it got into French, I had nothing to do with that, but it’s very flattering.“
All flattery aside, what Mason and Channell have done with the three-volume set of books is bring OMT into the forefront, into the clinics and into the classrooms. The third edition of the book is available for purchase here.