International Opportunities as a D.O.

[Dorsey DO]

I'm curious as to what opportunities exist for D.O. folks. Are there routes to match and do residencies overseas? I've never heard of one. I'm particularly interested in doing something in Australia due to ties there, but according to Wikipedia I can only practice there if my school or I am part of the Commission of Osteopathic Accreditation (COCA), and my school is not a member, though it seems like certain individuals are, as they are nominated through student organizations.

Anyhow, just wondering what I can do internationally whether it be during medical school (incoming DO 1st year here), residency, or afterward.

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[DOVinciRobot]

You do residency where you want to practice. No you cannot go to Australia for residency and expect to come back to the states, the one exception is Canada.

DOs can practice in Australia, if your school isn’t a member of coca then I hate to break it to you but they aren’t accredited… coca is who accredits DO schools.

Reality is medicine is one of the least transferable careers in the world. It’s possible but there are substantial hurdles.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

international practice rights were pretty grim for DOs but sometime in the past 7 years or so it got expanded and they can practice in some 80 countries iirc.

 

[Dorsey DO]

You do residency where you want to practice. No you cannot go to Australia for residency and expect to come back to the states, the one exception is Canada.

DOs can practice in Australia, if your school isn’t a member of coca then I hate to break it to you but they aren’t accredited… coca is who accredits DO schools.

Reality is medicine is one of the least transferable careers in the world. It’s possible but there are substantial hurdles.

What if the goal is residency and practicing in Australia, and not come back to the states? I've just never seen someone on Match Day match internationally ha. Also, COCA members are listed publicly. I see some individual students are members, nominated via a student organization like SOMA. I'd be interested in exploring how I can do that for myself once school starts.

 

[chilly_md]

What if the goal is residency and practicing in Australia, and not come back to the states? I've just never seen someone on Match Day match internationally ha. Also, COCA members are listed publicly. I see some individual students are members, nominated via a student organization like SOMA. I'd be interested in exploring how I can do that for myself once school starts.

From what little I know of Australia's medical education system, you would want to attend medical school there if you want to do that. Especially if you hope to specialize.

 

[Wolvvs]

If you want to practice in Australia, I'd strongly recommend applying to an Australian school, or UQ-Ochsner if you want to keep the option of practicing in the US open.

It is possible to train in Australia as an international graduate but you would be last in line for whatever spots are leftover and my understanding is it's usually pretty tight. According to your post history it looks like you're planning on attending a relatively new private DO school, and it's unlikely they'd have the resources or capacity to help you much so you'd likely be on your own for this process.

In my opinion, if you're committed to exploring Australia and you've got the MCAT/GPA for it, UQ-Ochsner would be a better fit for you. There's been vigorous debate about how UQ-Ochsner compares to DO schools, but looking at the match lists, UQ-Ochsner subjectively matches better than BCOM. You'd have two years in Australia to figure out if you'd like to stay there, and while you'd need to complete clinical years in the US, you'd be better prepared for intern year in most ways than domestic Australian students just due to the way training is conducted. The other option is just to apply to Australian med schools, they're relatively non-competitive for international students, but that would make it much harder to come back to the US if you decide Australia isn't for you. UQ-Ochsner is a decent middle ground, it allows you to stay about as competitive as you are now when matching back to the US (I would argue more competitive, but that's controversial haha) while also giving you a clear well-trodden path to stay in Australia if that's what you want (around 10% of the class does each year, so admin knows what to do and there's plenty of people to help).

As a disclaimer, I'm a current year 3 UQ-Ochsner student so I'm biased. It's definitely something worth considering though.