MD vs DO internship/residency/fellowship

[OldManDave]

I have a couple of questions I have been unable to locate answers.

First, is it possible to do a DO internship/residency and then do an allopathic fellowship?

Second, this is the impetus for Q1, is there such animal as a pediatric cardiology DO fellowship? I can find pediatric and cardiology, but not pediatric cardiology. And, I found that information on OsteopathicNet.

I'm REALLY thinking peds cardiology is what I want to do...and I feel Osteo medicine would be a perfect match.

Thanks in advance




[This message has been edited by OldManDave (edited 02-27-99).]

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[prefontaine]

For many specialties, it is possible to do an ACGME fellowship after an AOA residency. Check in Taber's to find out the correct meaning of 'allopathic'. I suspect that you are not using the word correctly.
My question for you is why do an AOA residency if you want to do peds cardio? Just do an ACGME residency so that you can be ABMS BE/BC. Life will be much simpler...

 

[OldManDave]

Nope, I'm fairly certain that would be the correct connotation of allopathic...refering to the 'traditional medicine or MD mind-set.'

Furthermore, it would be most appreciated if you'd stick to contributing to my question, not critiquing my grammar/syntax. There is entire website for that sort of crap...TPR's

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'Old Man Dave'

 

[Gregory Gulick]

Forget Tabers. To understand the term in its entirety, you need to go beyond a dictionary and explore medical sociology.

The term "allopathic" was originally coined by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathic medicine. The word was formed from the greek roots meaning "other than disease" because Hahnemann believed that M.D.s of his time treated only symptoms and rarely the underlying disease. Thus the term was meant to be a derogatory slam against M.D.s and somehow it managed to stick.

One of the most widely accepted notions in sociology is that those in power define and redefine situations, terms, and events to support their own interests. When homeopathic medicine was absorbed by "allopathic" medicine in the 1800's, the M.D.s attempted to redefine the hated term "allopathic" by using a German root meaning "all therapies" thus implying that they use all proven methods of treatment. More or less, they succeeded in the redefinition.

So look in the dictionary today and you'll find one or both of the above definitions.

Basically, Dave, keep using it.

 

[DOPhD student]

Greg hit the nail on the head. "Allopathy" was the term coined by homeopathic practicioners who wished to separate themselves from the crowd. In strictest of sense, you have on one side the homeopaths, and the rest of us, DOs, MDs, chiropractors, etc...are allopaths. One interesting note, this misinformation is discussed by a prominent Texan quack-busting MD Borski who contended in his article that allopathy is a misguided term to describe MDs when DOs too practice identical form of medicine. If MDs are allopaths, then so are DOs even if they realize it or not. Allopathic medicine, as referred to by the complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) practicioners, is used with the mindset of aligning CAM practicioners with DOs and creating a wedge within the medical community which consists of DOs and MDs. DOs who use the term allopathic to discribe their MD brethren, he asserted, are misguided (possibly by past mistrust and rivalry). I personally question whether there isn't still mistrust or rivalry, but I do agree with their being misguided, because a pill is a pill and a scapel is a scapel, no matter who pushes the pen or guides the blade.

 

[Mattie]

Dave,
Going back to your original question - I don't know about osteopathic peds cardiology residencies, but I do know a pediatric cardiologist in Dallas (who happens to be an MD) so there are physicians out there practing in this area. Maybe you could talk to someone like him about what route he took.

 

[StillBorn]

Peds cardiology is not that unusual a specialty. There are 46 ACGME programs in the US. As to AOA programs I would check with the big programs like Henry Ford, Botsford, Doctors in Ohio. Botsford sends some residents to rotate at U of Mich which has a peds cardiology fellowship, so you might look into that.

 

[drusso]

I think that it is fairly common to use the word "allopathic" to refer to MD's and MD institutions and most people understand what you mean when you say it. It's a useful short-hand and I use it all the time. Strictly speaking, though, there is no longer any "allopathic medicine." There is only biomedical science, scientific medicine, and proven and unproven therapies.

Osteopathic medicine is grounded in biomedical science and strives to be scientific--just as "allopathic" medicine does--and is beginning in earnest to take up the task of validating OMT with modern investigational tools. I think that it is dangerous only to define what D.O.'s do in contrast to what M.D.'s do. For me, what has always seemed true, is that the osteopathic adjective connotes more of a feeling, a philosophy, a shared set of values about how to approach patient care. It is a set of values rooted in its own philosophy of health and illness. And those roots are no small potatos.

The M.D. profession doesn't have a unifying philosophy about health and illness per se. They have a hodge-podge of notions with complicated names like the "biopsychosocial model" or "psychoneuroendocrinological basis of disease" all of which overlap to some extent with osteopathic principles. Do a literature search and find the first documented occurence of the word "osteopathic" versus "biopsychosocial" in the medical literature. I think you get the point...

All the same, both M.D.'s and D.O.'s share the same *science* about health and illness and thank God for that! That's what separates M.D.'s and D.O.'s from chiropractors, faith-healers, ayurvedics, traditional oriental medical practitioners, etc. Not that some of these "alternative" healers don't help people, sometimes they do. Still, the chiropractors et al., in addition to having *their* own philosophy of health and disease, also share a science that is incompatible with what the rest of medical science does. If I were a chiropractor I'd find this state of affairs a little disconcerting.

Further, being a D.O. doesn't ispo facto make an individual "osteopathic"--- no matter how much manipulation they perform or regardless how or where they obtained their board certification. I know many MD's who are osteopathically minded and I wouldn't begrudge them the distinction.

[This message has been edited by drusso (edited 03-03-99).]