Differences in MD/DO residencies

[cjw0918]

I know there are different accrediting bodies, but doesn't an MD or DO residency in the same practice area allow you the same practice privileges? So what's the big deal with getting MD residencies? Is the training better or something? It seems as though many DO's who want to specialize want MD residencies for their training. I understand that there are too few DO residencies and too many MD residencies, and this is part of the reason many DO's go MD after school, but what about the competitive specialty residencies? Are DO specialty residencies not well supported? I don't get it...does it really matter if your neurosurgery residency is MD or DO? Isn't neurosurgery neurosurgery? Also, would it make sense for a DO grad to do an MD residency in something like family practice, where DO's are well-established? Just wanting some clarification...thanks

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[Dr. P]

Good points. It depends on where you wnat to live, what field you are going into. But, honestly, I have heard of people in osteopathic residencies getting excellent allopathic fellowships, and all kinds of combinations. Personally, I don't think the accrediting body matters. You sould go to the best program for you. It think it is leftover sentiment from the pre-med MD/DO thing. Alot of nonsense. When choosing residency, and a specialty for that matter, what is best for one person may be the worst for another. Same thing with the idea of osteopathic residencies in allopathic hopitals vs osteopathic hospitals, etc. Who cares. What makes an osteopathic hospital different, osteopathic oxygen!?
Not everyone sees thing the same though.

 

[Neurogirl]

Yes, regardless of which route you choose, everyone has the same practice privileges. However, when it comes to residency training, as you said, there just aren't very many osteopathic specialty programs. If you go MD you have a much better chance of matching AND getting the location you want.

The reason there aren't enough programs is that most osteo hospitals are small community hospitals. Small facilities don't usually function as referral centers which means that most of them don't have enough pathology to support specialty programs. If a facility IS large enough to support a specialty residency then I doubt there would be much difference in the training.

Other considerations are research activity and access to technology. In order to be a well trained specialist you MUST have access to the best technology available. Also, it's very helpful to work with those who are actively involved in research. For these reasons, programs at academic medical centers are considered by many to be better than community based residencies and most well funded academic centers are allopathic.

 

[prefontaine]

The reality is that being AOA board certified and not ABMS will severely limit where you are able to get a job.

A DO that is ABMS BE/BC will find it much easier to get hospital privileges, as well as a job. Notice any AOA BE/BE DOs at the large academic teaching centers? I can't find any. However, there are ABMS BC/BE DOs at the premier institutions,eg Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Washington Univ @St Louis, Mayo...

I have known a # of AOA DOs that were denied jobs/interviews because they were not ABMS certified.

From my experience(s)/observations, the cross bar is much lower in the AOA (schools and GME)and the residents tend to be much less competent at the end of their training.

If you are a DO, an ACGME residency is a way to level the playing field.

 

[Rusty]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by prefontaine:
The reality is that being AOA board certified and not ABMS will severely limit where you are able to get a job.

A DO that is ABMS BE/BC will find it much easier to get hospital privileges, as well as a job. Notice any AOA BE/BE DOs at the large academic teaching centers? I can't find any. However, there are ABMS BC/BE DOs at the premier institutions,eg Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Washington Univ @St Louis, Mayo...

I have known a # of AOA DOs that were denied jobs/interviews because they were not ABMS certified.

From my experience(s)/observations, the cross bar is much lower in the AOA (schools and GME)and the residents tend to be much less competent at the end of their training.

If you are a DO, an ACGME residency is a way to level the playing field.•

While I firmly believe that the above post is accurate, an important aspect in gaining employment is networking and where you complete your residency. If you want to work in a primarily osteopathic community hospital, you are at an advantage if you complete an AOA-approved residency program. While few allopathic grdauates of large tertiary care programs seek employment at osteopathic community hospitals, they would likely be at a disadvantage compared to a DO who completed his/her AOA residency at that hospital. The same is true among DO graduates from AOA-approved community hospital residencies trying to compete for a spot at a large allopathic tertiary care hospital.

When seeking employment, hospital or other physician employers will be far more interested in where you trained for residency than where you went to medical school.

As for me, for a variety of reasons, I decided to do an allopathic residency program in a large tertiary care hospital with an excellent reputation.

 

[William]

prefontaine

I couldn't DISGAREE more with you.

Your years of experience and many academic teaching institutins that you are associated with must have lead you to this delusion.

The fact is MANY DO's with DO boards get jobs in top academic centers.

 

[prefontaine]

Name them.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by William:
prefontaine

I couldn't DISGAREE more with you.

Your years of experience and many academic teaching institutins that you are associated with must have lead you to this delusion.

The fact is MANY DO's with DO boards get jobs in top academic centers.

•