Best DO Book?

[pglo]

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I'd like to read a book on osteopathic medicine in America to prepare for my interview coming up. I definitely have great exposure and know about the profession, but I am just looking for supplementary information to absorb before my interview.

So far on SDN I've seen a recommendation for this book:
http://www.amazon.com/DOs-Osteopathic-Medicine-America/dp/0801878349/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415124463&sr=1-1&keywords=the dos

Although that book was written in 2004, is it a good source of the current DO profession? Obviously it probably doesn't include recent things like the ACA and the ACGME mergers.

 

[Nesmall2]

I would definitely read this book. It gives a fantastic history of the progression of osteopathic medicine. Yes, it is old and many things have changed, but in order to fully appreciate osteopathic medicine, one must understand its origin

 

[AM508]

I have read that book. It provides a very good, well-balanced history of osteopathic medicine. What I found nice, was that the book is written in a manner that is relatively unbiased; that is, it does not seem to take a strong pro or con stance, just a presentation of the history.

 

[cliquesh]

It's a good book and I recommend it. You should know that the distinction between MDs and DOs today is mostly superficial.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

I suggest you shadow a DO and talk to them. Much better than reading an outdated book

 

[deleted407021]

I suggest you shadow a DO and talk to them. Much better than reading an outdated book

It's not particularly outdated and it really is a great resource and shouldn't be discounted.

 

[AM508]

It's not particularly outdated and it really is a great resource and shouldn't be discounted.

This. The purpose of the book is not to learn about current events in osteopathic medicine, that would fall more under the purview of speaking with a DO, it is about learning the history of osteopathic medicine.

EDIT: It was actually the DO that I was shadowing that recommended reading this book!

 

[DrEnderW]

DiGiovanna's Osteopathic Approach to Principles and Treatment is an excellent and riveting read.

😀

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Side note
If you get a chance read anything from atul gawande. His books are very interesting and are easy to read. I was actually a little bothered by How boring Gevitz is as a writer (in "the DOs") and then the fact that I don't think he is wise for consistently advocating for the aoa to be separate from the acgme. But that's neither here nor there... So yea pick up gawande's books if you get the chance. They bring up very real challenges that you will face in medicine, DO or MD.

 

[asdf123g]

@DrEnderW @Awesome Sauceome : know any books I can read that will help me be more knowledgable about osteopathic medicine, answer the question "why DO", and other general things about the osteo profession? Im looking for sources outside googling crap/wikipedia about DO's. I shadowed a DO but he spent most of his time just talking about himself and his patients (not necessarily a bad thing) but I couldn't really extract anything about DO specifically. DO's are extremely hard to find in my area.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[AM508]

As has been mentioned already in this thread and others, The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America by Norman Gevitz is worth reading for a pretty inclusive history of osteopathic medicine. Its fairly dry, but I found it helpful for interview discussions on osteopathic medicine. This was the only osteopathic book that I read prior to applying and it served me well.

 

[DrEnderW]

@DrEnderW @Awesome Sauceome : know any books I can read that will help me be more knowledgable about osteopathic medicine, answer the question "why DO", and other general things about the osteo profession? Im looking for sources outside googling crap/wikipedia about DO's. I shadowed a DO but he spent most of his time just talking about himself and his patients (not necessarily a bad thing) but I couldn't really extract anything about DO specifically. DO's are extremely hard to find in my area.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

Wish I could give you some better reading advice, but I didn't read any books myself. I primarily used the AOA website to see the principles, values, and all that stuff. I tried to work those tenets into my personal experiences whenever I discussed a piece of my application or answered "why DO" or "why medicine." I don't think you'll need more than that for a great answer. The key is relating everything back to an experience - show with your experiences, just don't tell kind of thing.

 

[j4pac]

Robert Savarese

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Wish I could give you some better reading advice, but I didn't read any books myself. I primarily used the AOA website to see the principles, values, and all that stuff. I tried to work those tenets into my personal experiences whenever I discussed a piece of my application or answered "why DO" or "why medicine." I don't think you'll need more than that for a great answer. The key is relating everything back to an experience - show with your experiences, just don't tell kind of thing.

Yea pretty much agree with this. The idea is to pick just one or two points (just to keep it simple) and go with that. So for instance while shadowing I enjoyed that the DOs I shadowed really advocated for preventative medicine with their patients (nevermind the fact that MDs do the same thing...). I also have a genuine interest to experience and learn about OMT/OMM (even thought I personally never had it done or had ever seen it) - sort of as an "extra tool in the toolbelt" sort of thing. I pretty much just kept it to those two things for my interviews and that was it.

That way its like, you get to reflect on your own personal experiences (which are more important anyways), and tie them back into the stuff the tenents. So like I tied how I felt that preventative medicine was great because it really applied to tenent 2 "The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance." The best medicine is just staying healthy. And then related back to how great the DOs I shadowed were by incorporating it into their counseling with patients and how I would like to follow their example and have that role in the future. I legit am into that whole idea.... Your job is to just find a point or two that really resonate with you and try and connect the dots between your experiences and the "osteopathic philosophy," regardless of whether or not the DOs you shadowed were different than MDs in practice. Likely they will practice the same like 90% of the time. So your job is to basically just find those little things that you found the DO doing that resonated with you.

 

[ERK123]

I cannot recommend Gevitz's book enough. He provides an incredibly in depth history of the DO profession that will really impress DO's you shadow or interview with. He makes some assertions that I make me uncomfortable, but this does not negate the usefulness of the book IMO.

 

[austintr]

Probably not what you're looking for, but if you like to read, one of my favorite non-fiction books ever is On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story, written by Lt. Col. Richard Jadick. He's a D.O. that went from a pretty boring role as battalion surgeon in the navy reserves to a 38-yo trauma surgeon operating on the front lines in Iraq. Not particularly about osteopathic medicine per se, but I thought it was an incredibly good read and I can see how it could be easily referenced in interviews, since it is a great story all around!