Student Osteopathic Surgical Association (SOSA) / ACOS Students Section

The Student Osteopathic Surgical Association (SOSA) is the official students section of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS).   SOSA was established to provide a means for students interested in the surgical specialties to participate in the activities and governance of the ACOS. The purpose of SOSA is to represent and educate future osteopathic surgeons through local chapters of SOSA at colleges of osteopathic medicine. The fundamental priniciples of student education in surgery include:

1. Stressing the understanding of osteopathic principles in relationship to disease in the practice of surgery;
2. Helping to promote education in the field of surgery, including gowning and gloving, scrubbing, sterile technique, suturing and tying techniques, operating room behavior, instrumentation, universal precautions, osteopathic manipulative management of the surgical patient, pre and post-operative management of surgical patients, and surgical documentation; and providing a forum for discussion amongst students and surgeons.

The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Bureau of Professional Education (AOA Bureau) is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the only accrediting agency for predoctoral osteopathic medical education in the United States.

Accreditation action taken by the AOA Bureau means a college or school of osteopathic medicine (COM) has appropriately identified its mission, has secured the resources necessary to accomplish that mission, shows evidence of accomplishing its mission, and demonstrates that it may be expected to continue to accomplish its mission in the future. Accreditation of a COM means that the COM: incorporates the science of medicine, the art of caring, and the power of touch in a curriculum that recognizes the interrelationship of structure and function for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes; recognizes the importance of addressing the body as a whole in disease and health; and recognizes the importance of homeostasis and self-regulation in the maintenance of health.

For a list of colleges of offering programs in osteopathic medicine click here.