race and degree discrimination in Neuro?

[prn2oblivion]

My FMG friend believes that he doesn't get many referrals because other physicians know he's Indian by his name. Perhaps he is a bit paranoid, but he got me thinking more about the topic of discrimination in medicine. I'm a D.O. and am really interested in neurology. From what I've read in Iserson's and Lange, Neurology is a consult/referral based specialty. Would being a D.O. be disadvantageous to me as a Neurologist?

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[bustbones26]

My FMG friend believes that he doesn't get many referrals because other physicians know he's Indian by his name. Perhaps he is a bit paranoid, but he got me thinking more about the topic of discrimination in medicine. I'm a D.O. and am really interested in neurology. From what I've read in Iserson's and Lange, Neurology is a consult/referral based specialty. Would being a D.O. be disadvantageous to me as a Neurologist?

Nope! You'll be fine. My personal experience is that this all depends on where you practice. When I went to osteopathic medical school in PA where there are two DO school, the entire state was flooded with DOs. Nobody every thought twice about it, a doctor was a doctor. Whenever I started my residency in WA, then it was kind of like, "Oh, what exactly do you guys do?" Trust me, I am a neuro resident and I have staff that are genuinely concerned that I will hurt patients and give everybody a vertebral dissection.

My take is this, osteopathic medicine is kind of like "Lewis and Clark" or the "Great Frontier". It is slowly heading westward to the pacific.

As far as your friend, does he have competition? It sounds like he does. There may be more to it than just him being indian.

 

[buckley]

Well, most of clinical medicine is consult/referral based, when I think about it, so I don't think it's isolated in Neuro.