OD or DO

jjmcentee@hotma said:

Accepted into a DO medical school and PCO for optometry, I thought one of them would turn me down so my decision would be easier. But I guess I'm just unlucky ,

Anyways. I am 35, I have been a NY optician for 16 years, so OD would be make much more sense. But how do you turn down medical school. Every OD and medical professional I've met, tells me DO school without a doubt.

If you were given the choice, what would you do?

mr. jim

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Jim,

Age should be considered, but if you're not happy, then it will not matter if you're 40 when starting your new career or 45 years of age. Either way, you'll have 20+ years left of practice before you decide to retire.

You should consider if you'll be happy doing primary care for the eyes: screening exams, treatment of glaucoma and many common eye disease, glasses, contact lenses, and diagnosis with consultation to ophthalmologists. Do NOT go in the field of optometry in hopes that scope expansion will award you the ability to do laser or scalpel surgery. The scope expansion efforts have been damaging to your profession, in my opinion, because it only forces the public and legislatures to evaluate and judge optometry with keen scrutiny and to highlight the inadequacies of optometric education in training the "optometric surgeon".

On the other hand, if you may even have the slightest drive to do some thing else in medicine, then I suggest that you go to osteopathic medical school. After graduating as a medical physician, you'll have these options available to you:

• Addictions Medicine
• Allergy
• Anesthesiology
• Bariatrics
• Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
• Cardiology
• Cardiology - Interventional
• Colon & Rectal Surgery
• Critical Care
• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Family Practice
• Family Practice – OB
• Flight Surgery – Aerospace Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• General Practice
• General Surgery
• Geriatrics
• Gynecology
• Gynecology – Oncology
• Hematology
• Hematology – Oncology
• Hepatology
• Hospitalist
• Hyperbaric Medicine
• Infectious Disease
• Internal Medicine
• Maternal-Fetal Medicine
• Med-Peds
• Med-Surg
• Medical Informatics
• Medical Microbiology
• Neonatology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Nuclear Medicine
• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Oncology
• Oncology – Breast Surgery
• Oncology – Gynecological
• Oncology – Medical
• Oncology – Surgical
• Ophthalmology
• Ophthalmology – Cornea
• Ophthalmology – Glaucoma
• Ophthalmology – Neuro-ophthalmology
• Ophthalmology - Oculoplastics
• Ophthalmology – Pediatrics
• Ophthalmology – Retina
• Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Orthopaedic – Spine Surgery
• Orthopaedic Trauma
• Otolaryngology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Care
• Pathology
• Pediatric
• Pediatric – Adolescent Medicine
• Pediatric – Allergy & Immunology
• Pediatric – Anesthesiology
• Pediatric – Bone Marrow Transplant
• Pediatric – Cardiology
• Pediatric – Critical Care
• Pediatric – Emergency Medicine
• Pediatric – Endocrinology
• Pediatric – Gastroenterology
• Pediatric – Genetics
• Pediatric – Hematology & Oncology
• Pediatric – Hospitalist
• Pediatric – Infectious Disease
• Pediatric – Intensivist
• Pediatric – Nephrology
• Pediatric – Neurology
• Pediatric – Neurosurgery
• Pediatric – Orthopaedics
• Pediatric – Otolaryngology
• Pediatric – Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Pediatric – Pulmonary
• Pediatric – Radiology
• Pediatric – Rheumatology
• Pediatric – Surgery
• Perinatal Medicine
• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Plastic Surgery
• Podiatry
• Preventative Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Psychiatry – Child
• Psychiatry – Geriatrics
• Psychology – Child
• Pulmonary Disease
• Pulmonary Disease – Critical Care
• Radiology
• Radiology – Telemedicine
• Radiology – Neuro-interventional
• Radiology – Nuclear
• Radiology – Women’s Imager
• Research
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports Medicine
• Surgical Critical Care
• Technology
• Transfusion Medicine
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma Surgery
• Urgent Care
• Urology
• Urology – Oncology
• Vascular Medicine
• Vascular Surgery
• Women’s Health

If none of the above interests you, then you have your answer. You should go to optometry school! Good luck to whatever you decide to do.

Jim,

Do yourself a favor and go to DO school . The optometry school curriculum is just as difficult if not more difficult than the DO curriculum. Yet the profession is limited. Also if you decide to practice optometry in NY you will be very disappointed.

As an optometrist who currently has just finished up his first semester of medical school, I think I can offer some advice from both perspectives. First of all, I believe both professions are excellent choices and you are really in a win, win situation. Optometry has its advantages: predicatable hours, relatively straight-forward patient base, job security and a decent income. It is also really a lifestyle profession. Alot of the optometrists I know have a healthy balance between life and work. The reason why I switched into medicine (and hopefully ophthalmology) is the limitation of the profession. The majority of your patients are going to be healthy and will be coming in for a general eye exam, glasses/CLs, red eyes, etc. However, with respect to the medically realted cases, the more interesting cases that present to your office, you will most likely have to refer. In fact, those more interesting cases will probably seek the advice of an MD, before coming to you. This can be good and bad. The good side is often you wont have to deal with headaches that may be associated with these more complicated cases, however the downside is that you miss out on the more challenging cases. That is what happened to me. I got tired of referring to the opthos once the case got 'interesting.' I wanted to do more for my patients, enough to motivate me to go onto medicine. I wanted to be able to provide full care for my patients to a greater extent than an optometrist. As well, medicine is a more dynamic profession than optometry. The cases you handle are more medically complex and if you are interested in that aspect of care, I don't think optometry will satisfy you. If you enjoy the optical aspects of optometry (which provides a different type of challenge - ie low vision, vision rehab, etc) and like to have a relatively (compared to medicine) low stress, stable, well respected occupation, I'd stick with optometry. Plus, there is a great business mangagement component to the profession, which can be challenging and fun in its own right. All in all, I think it basically comes down to what aspects of patient care intrigues you and how much responsibility you want to take for your patient. Once you have that decided, I think your decision will be easier.

VTRAIN,
How long ago did you graduate optometry school and which do you find more difficult? Good luck in medical school / residency.

HOLLYWOOD said:

VTRAIN,
How long ago did you graduate optometry school and which do you find more difficult? Good luck in medical school / residency.

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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=1796978#post1796978

I graduated in Jun of 2004 but have been fortunate enough to be involved with the optometric profession since my high school days by virtue of a good family friend (who is in private practice back in my home town). In terms of the two cirriculums, having only completed a semster of medical school, my answer is limited. I can say that conceptually, optometry school at this point is more difficult and requires more intellectual thought. Optics can be quite challenging! The material in medical school does not take a genius to figure out by any means but the volume of material presents a challenge in a different way - ie through testing your dedication and in some sense your will power. Granted, optometry school is voluminous in material but it really doesn't compare to medical school. In med school I feel like I had to study 24/7 just to keep up; I never had that feeling in optometry school. Hope this helps.

Congrats on your acceptances!

My advice to you is to go with what you think you'll be happy with. As an older student myself, I think you're better prepared than someone who's younger to know what type of career will make you feel happy and fulfilled. Look at what you'll be doing day-to-day on the other end of all the education, see what fits you best, and you have your answer.

Best of luck to you, let us know what you decide!

Definitely a win-win situation, but two comments:

If you're considering optometry vs. ophthalmology and not just optometry vs. DO, be warned that getting a DO ophthalmology spot is, while not impossible, very difficult. I'm sure you're very qualified to get an ophtho spot, but the numbers alone make this a little bit of a gamble. If your goal is to stay eye-oriented, a much safer bet is optometry.

Med school and residency is a commitment of at least seven years for bare-bones peds, FP, or medicine, more for other specialties. You already know this, but that's the better part of a decade. A friend of mine switched from OD school at PCO to DO at PCOM and eventually did general surgery. By year 5 of his sleep deprivation experiment (residency), he was doubting the wisdom of his choice.

If you're married, heavily solicit the input of your spouse. This is the person you'll affect most with your decision.