Can a MD apply to DO residency

[hakim100]

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Is it possible for an MD to apply to a DO residency?

I know DO's often apply to MD residency programs, but is it possible for an MD to apply to a DO residency program?

 

[gutonc]

Is it possible for an MD to apply to a DO residency?

I know DO's often apply to MD residency programs, but is it possible for an MD to apply to a DO residency program?

Nope. Cry foul all you want but the answer will still be no.

 

[J-Rad]

Though this is strictly opinion, not based on objective data, I will say that I think that many in the D.O. world believe that AOA-only (to distinguish from dually approved which are open to anyone) residencies should be open to M.D. applicants.

But before "crying foul", think how much M.D. applicants would truly benefit from AOA residencies being open to them. While, as a matter of fairness, I believe that they should be open to all applicants, I think it will be the residencies and, maybe, the osteopathic community at-large that will benefit, rather than the potential M.D. applicants, for the most part.

 

[Doctor Bob]

Though this is strictly opinion, not based on objective data, I will say that I think that many in the D.O. world believe that AOA-only (to distinguish from dually approved which are open to anyone) residencies should be open to M.D. applicants.

But before "crying foul", think how much M.D. applicants would truly benefit from AOA residencies being open to them. While, as a matter of fairness, I believe that they should be open to all applicants, I think it will be the residencies and, maybe, the osteopathic community at-large that will benefit, rather than the potential M.D. applicants, for the most part.

My issue with DO residencies being closed to MD applicants is that as DOs we tell everyone that MD and DO are the same and we are equal (which they are) and so on and so forth. DOs got into MD residencies because we are equal and the same, but then we turn around and say DO residencies are only for DOs.

It won't happen anytime soon, but I'd like to see the AOA and ACGME merge, have the various specialty boards merge, and just have one postgraduate track for everyone.

 

[DrMom]

I was involved on an AOA committee that was considering opening up DO residencies to MD graduates. There are definitely folks in the AOA interested in this and there are inquiries from MD students/grads every year.

There were a couple of main issues that kept coming up:
1) How to go about OMM remediation. There are OMM requirements in DO residencies (I had to do a 2 week rotation, attend a lecture twice a year, and occasionally document OMM on charts. We also had to have an OMM/structural exam on every inpatient H & P).

2) The big concern on the AOA's side was that the MD grads would use AOA residencies to get competitive spots (ENT, rads, ortho) rather than a wide array of specialties. This would simply serve to potentially squeeze DO graduates out of these spots.

 

[gutonc]

I was involved on an AOA committee that was considering opening up DO residencies to MD graduates. There are definitely folks in the AOA interested in this and there are inquiries from MD students/grads every year.

There were a couple of main issues that kept coming up:
1) How to go about OMM remediation. There are OMM requirements in DO residencies (I had to do a 2 week rotation, attend a lecture twice a year, and occasionally document OMM on charts. We also had to have an OMM/structural exam on every inpatient H & P).

This part is easy. 1mo (more or less) required rotation prior to starting other rotations, then the same stuff DOs have to do during the year.

2) The big concern on the AOA's side was that the MD grads would use AOA residencies to get competitive spots (ENT, rads, ortho) rather than a wide array of specialties. This would simply serve to potentially squeeze DO graduates out of these spots.

This is why it won't actually happen anytime soon.

 

[dragonfly99]

They could start by opening up just the primary care residencies. Probably the first applicants would be Carib and other foreign grads, but it would be an interesting experiment.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Why would this be a problem? If the AOA truly believes DO = MD then shouldn't they be willing to put their graduates up against MD's and let them compete for the same spots? It seems to that the AOA is a hypocritical..our graduates are equal to MD's and should be allowed to go through the MD and DO match, but MD graduates are not equal to DO's and should not be able to go through the DO match. Or even worse, we are concerened our graduates won't match up and our competitive slots will become tantamount to additional MD slots.

And yet, there is still all sorts of bias in ACGME competative residencies against D.O.s, so in fact they aren't being hypocritical so much as trying to protect their own. Nice one-sided take though...

 

[st2205]

They could start by opening up just the primary care residencies. Probably the first applicants would be Carib and other foreign grads, but it would be an interesting experiment.

Or they could open up spots in the scramble. They could also integrate the two matches in the sense that there would be one match day and DO grads could rank their programs irrespective of osteopathic/allopathic. I would wonder if this would decrease the number of unfilled spots by people not leaving the osteopathic match for a #1 they fail to match at in the allopathic match. Who knows.

 

[JaggerPlate]

They should just slowly push for all slots to be dually accredited. I assume this would be a HUGE task (if even possible), but it would hopefully knock down some of the weird barriers (ie: MDs not being able to match AOA and DO bias in ACGME programs) and also could help with the funding issues of some of the AOA residencies.