Academic Rigor for DO compared to DPT

[mnmoore]

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Hi guys,

I have been interested in physical therapy for several years, but now I am considering osteopathic medicine. I have a peer who is a first year in DO school, so I now have a very real understanding of the true demands (academic rigor, depth of knowledge, time commitment, financial concerns) of a medical school. However, I do not know anyone in any other health related graduate programs, so I don't have anything to which to compare the academic rigor. I am specifically looking for a comparison DO or MD vs DPT. (I am not interested in anyone trying to compare DO with MD).

I recognize DPT has not been around for a very long time, but if anyone has switched between schools I would love to know their thoughts. I do not want to know about a comparison with a masters of physical therapy program!

TLDR; I would love an honest comparison of the academic rigor and course demands between MD/DO schools and a DPT program (not masters.)

Thanks!

 

[deleted407021]

Hi guys,

I now have a very real understanding of the true demands (academic rigor, depth of knowledge, time commitment, financial concerns) of a medical school.

Ahh! Ahah! HAHAHAHAHA!!........no.

I'm fairly certain one would have to actually be in med school before them understand the demands. As to the difficulty of a medical education vs. a DPT's education, idk, but I'd hazard a guess that med school is more demanding. There is a pre-PT forum on SDN, so you might want to search around there for any insight they have.


EDIT: derp

 

[100111]

I feel pretty confident when I say that dpt, dpm, dds, pa, etc will not be as hard as medicine, period.

and m.d. = d.o. They all study the same thing and the school-by-school difference is greater than the md vs do difference.

Ahh! Ahah! HAHAHAHAHA!!........no.

I'm fairly certain one would have to actually be in med school before them understand the demands. As to the difficulty of a medical education vs. a DPT's education, idk, but I'd hazard a guess that med school is more demanding. There is a pre-podatry forum on SDN, so you might want to search around there for any insight they have.

dpt is physical therapy 🙂

 

[deleted407021]

dpt is physical therapy 🙂

Yes...?

 

[100111]

Yes...?

telling him to go podiatry forum to ask about physical therapy wont exactly help him brah.

 

[deleted407021]

telling him to go podiatry forum to ask about physical therapy wont exactly help him brah.

Oh! LOLOL. My bad, dang. Fixed.

 

[AlteredScale]

Hi guys,

I have been interested in physical therapy for several years, but now I am considering osteopathic medicine. I have a peer who is a first year in DO school, so I now have a very real understanding of the true demands (academic rigor, depth of knowledge, time commitment, financial concerns) of a medical school. However, I do not know anyone in any other health related graduate programs, so I don't have anything to which to compare the academic rigor. I am specifically looking for a comparison DO or MD vs DPT. (I am not interested in anyone trying to compare DO with MD).

I recognize DPT has not been around for a very long time, but if anyone has switched between schools I would love to know their thoughts. I do not want to know about a comparison with a masters of physical therapy program!

TLDR; I would love an honest comparison of the academic rigor and course demands between MD/DO schools and a DPT program (not masters.)

Thanks!

https://www.fsbpt.org/FreeResources/NPTECandidateHandbook/SampleQuestions.aspx

This is a practice board exam question for NPTE:

4. If angle 1 in the photograph is greater than 20°, which of the following complications is the patient MOST likely to develop?

a. Patellofemoral tracking disorder
b. Genu recurvatum
c. Lateral collateral ligament sprain
d. Medial meniscal lesion

https://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_demo.aspx#

This is a board exam question for the USMLE Step 1:

A 3-month-old girl is brought to the emergency department with fever, irritability, and vomiting for the past 2 days. On examination, she is ill-looking, lethargic, and febrile. Blood cultures grow Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One of her brothers died from disseminated mycobacterial infection during infancy. Impairment of which of the following protective mechanisms is most likely contributing to this patient's infection?

A. Antibody production
B. Complement production
C. Interferon signaling
D. Isotype switching
E. Leukocyte adhesion


Just on this, I would assume that the curriculum of MD/DO is much more rigorous than that of a DPT curriculum on the basis that there is much more required for an MD/DO candidate to know and manage as they are studying general medicine (which encompasses a lot more than physical medicine and rehab or the clinical acumen of a DPT).

Just a quick question OP: why do you want to know this?

 

[costales]

Hi guys,

I have been interested in physical therapy for several years, but now I am considering osteopathic medicine. I have a peer who is a first year in DO school, so I now have a very real understanding of the true demands (academic rigor, depth of knowledge, time commitment, financial concerns) of a medical school. However, I do not know anyone in any other health related graduate programs, so I don't have anything to which to compare the academic rigor. I am specifically looking for a comparison DO or MD vs DPT. (I am not interested in anyone trying to compare DO with MD).

I recognize DPT has not been around for a very long time, but if anyone has switched between schools I would love to know their thoughts. I do not want to know about a comparison with a masters of physical therapy program!

TLDR; I would love an honest comparison of the academic rigor and course demands between MD/DO schools and a DPT program (not masters.)

Thanks!

You have been interested in physical therapy for several years and you never looked up a DPT curriculum?
Here: http://shp.utmb.edu/PhysicalTherapy/Curriculum.asp

 

[costales]

https://www.fsbpt.org/FreeResources/NPTECandidateHandbook/SampleQuestions.aspx

This is a practice board exam question for NPTE:

4. If angle 1 in the photograph is greater than 20°, which of the following complications is the patient MOST likely to develop?

a. Patellofemoral tracking disorder
b. Genu recurvatum
c. Lateral collateral ligament sprain
d. Medial meniscal lesion

https://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_demo.aspx#

This is a board exam question for the USMLE Step 1:

A 3-month-old girl is brought to the emergency department with fever, irritability, and vomiting for the past 2 days. On examination, she is ill-looking, lethargic, and febrile. Blood cultures grow Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One of her brothers died from disseminated mycobacterial infection during infancy. Impairment of which of the following protective mechanisms is most likely contributing to this patient's infection?

A. Antibody production
B. Complement production
C. Interferon signaling
D. Isotype switching
E. Leukocyte adhesion


Just on this, I would assume that the curriculum of MD/DO is much more rigorous than that of a DPT curriculum on the basis that there is much more required for an MD/DO candidate to know and manage as they are studying general medicine (which encompasses a lot more than physical medicine and rehab or the clinical acumen of a DPT).

Just a quick question OP: why do you want to know this?

Duh. DO schools have monthly quizzes which are open book, and the board exams are optional. You can also skip residency to save time.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Honestly, it isn't even comparable. At my school we take 12 units of anatomy in 11 weeks. DPT takes 8 units of anatomy in a period of 1 year.

 

[NontradCA]

https://www.fsbpt.org/FreeResources/NPTECandidateHandbook/SampleQuestions.aspx

This is a practice board exam question for NPTE:

4. If angle 1 in the photograph is greater than 20°, which of the following complications is the patient MOST likely to develop?

a. Patellofemoral tracking disorder
b. Genu recurvatum
c. Lateral collateral ligament sprain
d. Medial meniscal lesion

https://www.usmleworld.com/Step1/step1_demo.aspx#

This is a board exam question for the USMLE Step 1:

A 3-month-old girl is brought to the emergency department with fever, irritability, and vomiting for the past 2 days. On examination, she is ill-looking, lethargic, and febrile. Blood cultures grow Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One of her brothers died from disseminated mycobacterial infection during infancy. Impairment of which of the following protective mechanisms is most likely contributing to this patient's infection?

A. Antibody production
B. Complement production
C. Interferon signaling
D. Isotype switching
E. Leukocyte adhesion


Just on this, I would assume that the curriculum of MD/DO is much more rigorous than that of a DPT curriculum on the basis that there is much more required for an MD/DO candidate to know and manage as they are studying general medicine (which encompasses a lot more than physical medicine and rehab or the clinical acumen of a DPT).

Just a quick question OP: why do you want to know this?

They're two completely different type of questions. The second one is actually a straightforward and easy question. It'd be hard to say which has more academic rigor, especially based on their board questions.

 

[Roxas]

From what I've seen at my school the DPT program seems quite a bit less rigorous than the DO program. Board questions seems like a terrible way to try and evaluate this btw.

 

[AlteredScale]

From what I've seen at my school the DPT program seems quite a bit less rigorous than the DO program. Board questions seems like a terrible way to try and evaluate this btw.

I'm providing OP with an example that you need to really understand the basic sciences (molecular and cellular basis within disease states) in medical school while that isn't necessary in DPT school. Perhaps I didn't explain that well. Oh well.

Oh well, OP gets the MD/DO school is more rigorous than DPT school.

 

[Seth Joo]

You are asking us to compare apples to oranges. I think any doctoral level program in any kind of science related discipline is going to be extremely difficult.

 

[Mad Jack]

Hi guys,

I have been interested in physical therapy for several years, but now I am considering osteopathic medicine. I have a peer who is a first year in DO school, so I now have a very real understanding of the true demands (academic rigor, depth of knowledge, time commitment, financial concerns) of a medical school. However, I do not know anyone in any other health related graduate programs, so I don't have anything to which to compare the academic rigor. I am specifically looking for a comparison DO or MD vs DPT. (I am not interested in anyone trying to compare DO with MD).

I recognize DPT has not been around for a very long time, but if anyone has switched between schools I would love to know their thoughts. I do not want to know about a comparison with a masters of physical therapy program!

TLDR; I would love an honest comparison of the academic rigor and course demands between MD/DO schools and a DPT program (not masters.)

Thanks!

I met a physical therapist that specifically went into physical therapy because med school was too much, if that says anything.

 

[AlteredScale]

Maybe perhaps probably, DPT programs are equal to med when it comes to anatomy? I think the school I'm going to has a few DPT/PhD professor teaching anatomy.

 

[Mad Jack]

I would say if anything, DPT programs have a very good if not equal difficulty when it comes to anatomy. I think the school I'm going to has a few DPT/PhD professor teaching anatomy.

At UNE we've got DPT students. They have one cadaver for the entire class, and their practicals are significantly less difficult than ours. We get more dissection experience, and are expected to know far, far more detail. Painful amounts of detail.

 

[AlteredScale]

At UNE we've got DPT students. They have one cadaver for the entire class, and their practicals are significantly less difficult than ours. We get more dissection experience, and are expected to know far, far more detail. Painful amounts of detail.

Ahh well that probably constitutes why all of then have a PhD in clinically anatomy. That meme is gold though!

 

[j4pac]

Consider PM&R

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Maybe perhaps probably, DPT programs are equal to med when it comes to anatomy? I think the school I'm going to has a few DPT/PhD professor teaching anatomy.

Not even close. I saw their practical and they were a joke.

Teaching anatomy is a worthless indicator of the knowledge of their degree. Professors typically lecture only a few regions and only a few lectures. Anyone can become good at a specific thing. Taking the mountain that is medical anatomy as a whole as a student in our time frame is something else.