D.O. psychiatry
 

if i plan on going to an ACGME residency from a DO school will that limit my job opportunities vs. coming from an MD school? not worried about residency, as i know its very DO friendly.

like for private practice, do affluent patients with cash tend to go for the MD vs. the DO title? thank ya!!

Not that I've ever heard of.

I'm sure that there are some snotty/narcissistic patients who will only want "the best," but they are only going to happy with the Yale/Harvard crowd of MDs. Most of them would see very little difference between an EVMS MD & a DO...

From what I've seen, and this is in a state with not-that-many DO's, we have zero problems finding jobs.

If you want your own office, most referrals come by word of mouth and by recommendation from their PCP. If your reputation is that you treat your patients well, or have a high success rate, or have a certain area of expertise, then the PCPs or the general public (i.e your patients) are going to funnel the appropriate patients to you...DO or not.

Keep in mind the severe shortage of psychiatric providers. ~55% of practicing psychiatrists are over age 55. It's one of the slowest growing fields. One of the highest % of female docs (who, statistically, tend to work slightly less hours to do family stuff, time off for babies, raising them, etc...not trying to be anti-grrrl, but those are the stats, and it's been a BIG problem for the dental field, who saw a similar shift in their demographics a few years back...).

Anyways, people are lucky if they get to see ANY psychiatrist. Beggars can't be choosers, and people in most areas are begging.

I would say the only potential issue would be cash paying psychoanalysis patients in a place like NYc or southern California, where as digtl said you may be catering to a more pretentious and narcissistic crowd (and do you really want to deal with that)? Otherwise, you shoudnt have a problem whatsoever. Most people don't even know psychiatrists are physicians, and I've heard many people refer to there ARNPs as their 'doctor', in fact I've heard that more times than I can count.

Don't despair. Even as a DO, you might still be able to get all the cash-paying narcissists by getting into the right residency training. I know Mayo Clinic takes DO residents (and they actually do get a lot of narcissistic patients who are drawn there by the "Mayo name", according to what they said at my interview there).
Of course, not all of the best psych programs have "name recognition" among the lay public. But nonetheless, the point is, that being a DO will not stop you from doing what you want to do in psych.

Also, keep in mind that these perceptions are somewhat regional. Around these parts, UVa is the "Big Dog," and if you train there (in whatever field) then you must be awesome. Obviously, even laypeople around here know Harvard, Yale, and Mayo, but no one's here has ever heard of U Iowa or Indiana, and probably wouldn't consider that doc "superb" unless they'd heard so from their doctor or a friend.

It's funny. When I tell my local non-medical friends that I interviewed at Wake Forest, they're all impressed and go, "ooooooh. wow." My classmate from Minnesota has never even heard of the place. No idea. And it's not very highly regarded, at least amongst most of us applicants. I almost DNR'd it too, as psychphan did, but decided that despite the TONS of outpatient (some of which is child, which saved it somewhat), and the close location to home and low cost of living helped. And I did like the residents. But I digress...

The point is that you don't even have to go to Yale or Mayo to get the narcissists. Your local "Big Dog" public school might be just as good to the average joe or joe-ette.

and not all narcissists look for the most prestigious, some look for the least so they can push them around and feel superior!

My god, what kind of shell do you live in to have never heard of Wake Forrest? Have they never heard of Tim Duncan either? Pour sheltered soul

:laugh: Well, she is a girl and doesn't watch much sports, and from Minnesota...so, there's that. But, right?!?

If you're gonna criticize someone for never having heard of Wake Forest, might as well spell it correctly. :p

Touché, I'll blame it on the increased typos that occur when using an iPad!

Ooh, but I bet the iPad added the accent for you!

Nice one, Splik.... I like this!

Of course, if there are two things everyone knows about Steve Jobs was that he
1) loved accent marks
2) hated Flash player

Duh.

Highest paid analysts in my city are psychologists; believe it or not. Several of them completed analytic training. Vast majority of people, with or without money, don't have a clue that psychiatrists are physicians. So, most don't care if you are an MD or DO.

They usually care if you can give them klonopin or not.

Becoming jaded
 

@billypilgrim37: Is psychiatry going to make me jaded and cynical of people just wanting prescriptions? :P

No. MEDICINE is going to do that. :laugh:

DO Psych Board
 

Has anyone taken the DO Psych Boards? There is limited info about it on their website and nothing on SDN about it.

I don't know any DO (AOA residency) psychiatrists, but I have a friend who applied to DO psych this year...I'll see if they can turn up any info...

Hey Karen, I was also interested in taking the aoa psych boards this year. Tried to contact someone but did not get a response..go figure. Any info or help would be really appreciated