Availability of DO residencies.

[dancermeggs]

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Hello. I am currently a nursing student in my ADN program. I already know that nursing isn't enough for me and I plan to go into medicine after getting my Bachelor's. I've been researching MD and DO schools and I feel that DO schools are more in line with my personal philosophy and would be more accepting of a non-traditional pre-med major. My ultimate goal is to become an Ob-GYN regardless of whether or not I'm MD or DO. I have a major concern about DO residencies for DO's. I looked on the AOA match site and most of the Ob-Gyn residencies are in Michigan and Oklahoma, I live in Florida and would really like to stay here for the duration of any possible medical career.

I guess I have a few questions. Is Ob-Gyn a popular specialty for DO's and how hard is it for a DO to get into an MD residency? Thanks! 😀

 

[Superman DO]

If my math is correct, there were 72 DO residency spots in 27 programs for Ob/Gyn for the 2012 match, and only 1 spot was unfilled. There are no Ob residencies in Flordia (you can see all the programs on opportunities.osteopathic.org). So, for the class of 2012, Ob seemed like a very popular speciality. Idk how many spots are available in the MD match, but 72 spots for the DO match is too low I think, which makes matching more competitive. Is it always competitive? Who is to say. . .it depends on the particular class. Some years may have many appicants to a particular speciality, while in other years, maybe not so much. There is really no way to forecast how popular a speciality will be 4-6 years from now since many students will not even pick their desired speciality until their 3rd year of medical school; however, with the growing number of DO schools without an increase in the number of residency positions, I think all specialites are going to be more competitive to get your desired spot than it has been in the past. I'm so glad I'll be matching before the students at these new schools match.

 

[HDaddyDollarz]

Dude, you are so far away from applying.....just apply both MD and DO and see what happens

truth is it will make no diff in the end, you will practice how you want to.

 

[donkeykong1]

obgyn is not that competitive. worry about getting into med school first

 

[SoulinNeed]

You'll have very little trouble getting OB-GYN as a DO.

 

[SpecterGT260]

You'll have very little trouble getting OB-GYN as a DO.

but probably quite a bit of trouble not being an MD or a DO.... 😕

 

[FrkyBgStok]

This process isn't conducive will planning to stay in one area. Sure it could work out, but it is pretty hard unless location is more important than specialty.

 

[dancermeggs]

If my math is correct, there were 72 DO residency spots in 27 programs for Ob/Gyn for the 2012 match, and only 1 spot was unfilled. There are no Ob residencies in Flordia (you can see all the programs on opportunities.osteopathic.org). So, for the class of 2012, Ob seemed like a very popular speciality. Idk how many spots are available in the MD match, but 72 spots for the DO match is too low I think, which makes matching more competitive. Is it always competitive? Who is to say. . .it depends on the particular class. Some years may have many appicants to a particular speciality, while in other years, maybe not so much. There is really no way to forecast how popular a speciality will be 4-6 years from now since many students will not even pick their desired speciality until their 3rd year of medical school; however, with the growing number of DO schools without an increase in the number of residency positions, I think all specialites are going to be more competitive to get your desired spot than it has been in the past. I'm so glad I'll be matching before the students at these new schools match.

Thanks! I'm glad somebody could help me out!

 

[dntke1518]

This process isn't conducive will planning to stay in one area. Sure it could work out, but it is pretty hard unless location is more important than specialty.

+1 This... Be prepared to move, wanting to stay in the same place is nice, but it is pretty far from what reality will be.

 

[dancermeggs]

+1 This... Be prepared to move, wanting to stay in the same place is nice, but it is pretty far from what reality will be.

Yeah, I figured it would be like this, just a shame there are so few residencies. Maybe by the time I have to worry about residencies, there will be more open positions.

 

[Rub A Dub GTI]

How competitive is internal medicine (residency) and then oncology fellowship ?

 

[Rub A Dub GTI]

Looks like there are 21 spots if you count oncology, hem/onc, and mus/skele oncology combined

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

How competitive is internal medicine (residency) and then oncology fellowship ?

ACGME Hem/Oncology isn't too difficult for DO's to get into.

 

[ShyRem]

Voice of reason here.

FIRST, worry about getting IN to medical school.

Next point (and I have said this more times than I can count at this point but still bears repeating), 80% of all "100% no I'm not going to change my mind I'm different than all those other medical students I know what I'm getting into" medical students change their minds about what they are positive they are going to pursue. One girl in my class was a previous doula, had worked in an OB's office for several years, attended dozens of births, president of the OBGYN club, was absolutely vociferous in her decision to go OBGYN years 1 and 2. Come MS3 and she discovered she absolutely hated OB. (yeah, I know, you're different.)

And thirdly, my match year there were a grand total of... wait for it... 0 OB residencies unmatched for scramble. ZERO. About a third of the folks my class that wanted OB did NOT get it. So to say "it's not competitive" depends on the year. Whether it will be competitive in 5 years is anyone's guess.

How competitive you are for residency depends entirely on your performance in school, your board scores, your audition rotations, your interview, your willingness to relocate, and the match itself. If you are unwilling to relocate, your chances go down outrageously. If you barely pass your steps your chances go down. If you contaminate the sterile field on an audition rotation in MS3/4 years, kiss that site goodbye.

How difficult is it for a DO to get into an ACGME residency depends on the student, the site, and the above. Plenty of DOs get into ACGME residencies. However, with the new "all-in" policy this year it will be interesting to see which residencies choose to stay in the match and which are pulling out so they can pre-match everyone (and no I don't expect you to know what all this means - you are years away from this point and the policies may change by the time you are ready for match).

You are asking a lot of questions that we just can't answer at this point. Concentrate on getting INTO medical school first, and then take it from there. The path is long and you are trying to forecast the finish line of a marathon when you aren't even at the starting line yet.

 

[dancermeggs]

Thanks! I'll be sure to ask these questions again when the time comes if they haven't already been answered for me. 😀

 

[Rub A Dub GTI]

ACGME Hem/Oncology isn't too difficult for DO's to get into.

Thanks 🙂

 

[MedPR]

Seems to be a lot of knowledgable people in this thread so I'll put this here. If you take USMLE and COMLEX do you have to report your COMLEX score to ACGME programs?

 

[group_theory]

Just some additional info

As of Dec 31, 2010, there were 464 DOs in an ACGME OB/GYN residency, making up 9.5% of all OB/GYN residents (total OB/GYN residents were 4884)

There were 52 DOs in ACGME Heme/Onc fellowships (out of 1462), 4 in ACGME Oncology (out of 102), and 2 DOs in Hematology (out of 43)

Source: JAMA. 2011;306(9):1015-1030

 

[abolt18]

If my math is correct, there were 72 DO residency spots in 27 programs for Ob/Gyn for the 2012 match, and only 1 spot was unfilled. There are no Ob residencies in Flordia (you can see all the programs on opportunities.osteopathic.org). So, for the class of 2012, Ob seemed like a very popular speciality. Idk how many spots are available in the MD match, but 72 spots for the DO match is too low I think, which makes matching more competitive. Is it always competitive? Who is to say. . .it depends on the particular class. Some years may have many appicants to a particular speciality, while in other years, maybe not so much. There is really no way to forecast how popular a speciality will be 4-6 years from now since many students will not even pick their desired speciality until their 3rd year of medical school; however, with the growing number of DO schools without an increase in the number of residency positions, I think all specialites are going to be more competitive to get your desired spot than it has been in the past. I'm so glad I'll be matching before the students at these new schools match.

Wow thank you for this! I've seriously wondered where to find info on residencies for the longest time!

 

[cliquesh]

If my math is correct, there were 72 DO residency spots in 27 programs for Ob/Gyn for the 2012 match, and only 1 spot was unfilled. There are no Ob residencies in Flordia (you can see all the programs on opportunities.osteopathic.org). So, for the class of 2012, Ob seemed like a very popular speciality. Idk how many spots are available in the MD match, but 72 spots for the DO match is too low I think, which makes matching more competitive. Is it always competitive? Who is to say. . .it depends on the particular class. Some years may have many appicants to a particular speciality, while in other years, maybe not so much. There is really no way to forecast how popular a speciality will be 4-6 years from now since many students will not even pick their desired speciality until their 3rd year of medical school; however, with the growing number of DO schools without an increase in the number of residency positions, I think all specialites are going to be more competitive to get your desired spot than it has been in the past. I'm so glad I'll be matching before the students at these new schools match.

There 1240 Acgme ob/gyn spots last year. 133 were filled by DOs.

 

[Iowa08]

Isn't Florida one of those 4 or 5 states that require DOs to complete at least a year of an osteopathic internship to be licensed in the state? You might want to keep that in mind.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Isn't Florida one of those 4 or 5 states that require DOs to complete at least a year of an osteopathic internship to be licensed in the state? You might want to keep that in mind.

Yah, but I'm sure Florida has a variation of prop 42, i.e getting an ACGME PGY-1 resident to count. Not to mention I'm sure that requirement will be removed within the decade.

 

[NeuroLAX]

Yah, but I'm sure Florida has a variation of prop 42, i.e getting an ACGME PGY-1 resident to count. Not to mention I'm sure that requirement will be removed within the decade.

There has to be an alternative, otherwise you would see a TON of students matching AOA from LECOM-B and NSU-COM just to satisfy this requirement. Correct?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Frankly it is surprising that any board certified physician can be denied the right to practice by their state's AOA for not completing an osteopathic internship. I mean it is outright ridiculous that these physicians have to at all justify themselves when they are recognized by a widely accredited board to begin with.

 

[NeuroLAX]

Frankly it is surprising that any board certified physician can be denied the right to practice by their state's AOA for not completing an osteopathic internship. I mean it is outright ridiculous that these physicians have to at all justify themselves when they are recognized by a widely accredited board to begin with.

I agree, especially if one plans on having nothing to do with the AOA once they're out of school...

Actually now that I think of it, I think if you match into ACGME you can petition the AOA to be excluded from that rule. Am I right?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I agree, especially if one plans on having nothing to do with the AOA once they're out of school...

Actually now that I think of it, I think if you match into ACGME you can petition the AOA to be excluded from that rule. Am I right?

I think as an DO physician you need to be a member of the AOA to retain your right to practice, and pay a fee every year. I'm not sure, maybe this is only for AOA trained physicians, but regardless.
You can petition the AOA to consider your ACGME PGY-1 internship/residency to be a substitute. You know, because the AOA needs to determine if your ACGME residency was up the the quality of AOA internships 🙄.

 

[Mehd School]

I think as an DO physician you need to be a member of the AOA to retain your right to practice, and pay a fee every year..

I don't believe this is true. The ER chief I shadowed basically said "Piss Off" to the AOA once he got his degree, and has had nothing to do with them since.

Smart man.

 

[Whiskeypunch]

I think as an DO physician you need to be a member of the AOA to retain your right to practice, and pay a fee every year. I'm not sure, maybe this is only for AOA trained physicians, but regardless.
You can petition the AOA to consider your ACGME PGY-1 internship/residency to be a substitute. You know, because the AOA needs to determine if your ACGME residency was up the the quality of AOA internships 🙄.

You need to be a member of the AOA in order to petition for regulation 42 recognition of your internship. However, you do not need to be a member of the AOA after they approve it or otherwise in the future.

Your licensing board is where you get the right to practice in a state. The license is granted based on completing medical school at an accredited institution, passing all the COMLEX exams, and completing X number of years of postgraduate training at an accredited program, which in the case of the 4 states or whatever is only AOA programs or ones approved by the AOA (ie acgme + res 42). Also there's all the normal stuff like not having psych issues/criminal past/past problems etc.

But I hope everyone from this generation of DO's ponies up the cash and stays involved so that we can change how things are run at the AOA.