Blueprint · COMLEX-USA Level 1

Required Knowledge and Content for COMLEX-USA Level 1

The COMLEX-USA examination series is designed to assess the osteopathic medical knowledge and fundamental clinical skills considered essential for osteopathic generalist physicians to practice osteopathic medicine. COMLEX-USA is constructed in the context of clinical problem-solving that involves “competency domains” and “clinical presentations.”

The assessment focuses on these two distinct dimensions, which integrate the following elements:

• Osteopathic philosophy of whole-person health care
• Underlying structure-function relationships
• Interdependence of body systems
• Self-healing and self-regulatory mechanisms
• Osteopathic approach to patient care including osteopathic manipulative medicine and osteopathic manipulative treatment

Osteopathic principles and practices are integrated throughout all areas of the examination to reflect the way they permeate osteopathic medicine. The tables below present the major categories of the two dimensions and the minimum portion of the total content they constitute in the Level 1 examination.

Dimension 1 of the COMLEX-USA blueprint consists of seven competency domains. These include foundational abilities, representing the required elements and outcomes that define knowledge, skills, experience, attitudes, values, behaviors, and the established professional standards an osteopathic physician should possess.

Dimension 2 consists of ten clinical presentations, which represent the manner in which a particular patient, group of patients, or community present for osteopathic medical care.