Professional skill priorities: Comparison views of osteopathy industry professionals and osteopathy students

Objective: This paper investigates the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of osteopathy students who had opportunity to engage with differing curriculum interventions focused on patient communication, and compare these with those of industry professionals. Method: Three different osteopathy student cohorts had opportunity to engage with different communication curriculum interventions. Using focus group discussions, perceptions, attitudes, and experiences about patient centred care were gathered and thematically analysed using a realist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry professionals to capture their perceptions, attitudes and experiences about patient centred care and compared with the students. Results: Cohorts with zero or one semester of advanced communication curriculum displayed underdeveloped concepts about the professional skill sets needed of an osteopath, patient-centred care and confidence and readiness for supervised clinical practise. In stark contrast, the one cohort who had opportunity to engage with the full communication curriculum i.e. introductory and advanced displayed views about patient centred care closely aligned with the views of industry professionals, demonstrated advanced ideas about skill sets of an osteopath, and were eager to commence supervised clinical practise. Conclusion: An explicit and appropriately integrated curriculum appears to expedite student confidence and maturity to align more closely with industry professional views regarding the skill priorities needed of an osteopath.