D.O.'s getting some love

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MSUSpartan642

MSUSpartan642

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I have been in between shadowing both M.D. and D.O. Family medicine. While they are both GREAT at what they do and their patients both like them. I have to say I think that the ones who visit the D.O. actually get more out of their visits because of the OMM. I mean I really think that they appreciate it and it makes a huge difference when used. For this reason I literally cannot believe that D.O. has not became more popular. For Family medicine (maybe IM too) do you guys think that D.O. will actually become the favored path down the road or will M.D. always be the popular path? Just wondering?🙂
 
Down the road, if the degrees don't merge (which they wont --> AOA), its going to be close. Stats are rising every year for matriculants to both types of programs.

I think its safe to say that there is still a rather large gap:

DO - 3.4(5) and 25/26
MD - 3.65 and 31/32

but it is closing.
 
Residents of Idaho and Montana, from what I have seen and gather from the locals, is that they prefer D.O. over M.D. due to the holistic approach of the evaluation. I work with a lot of M.D.s in the military and many of them strictly focus on the symptoms instead of the whole person, which led me to explore the option of D.O. myself. I shadow a D.O. and I was really impressed as well.
 
Yeah, I really want to go into Family medicine (I think) and ever since I have seen the happiness and success that the D.O.'s have I really think that its the route for me to go. OMM is a great technique that I believe works well and would be very excited to learn about it.
 
MSUSpartan642 said:
Yeah, I really want to go into Family medicine (I think) and ever since I have seen the happiness and success that the D.O.'s have I really think that its the route for me to go. OMM is a great technique that I believe works well and would be very excited to learn about it.
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The Sky is the limit my friend just work real hard and the American Dream will be yours. Not to mention you get to help people for a living nothing more fulfilling than that.
 
However, I do not want to make generalized blanket statements, which would led people to believe that M.D.s are all bad. There are good and bad doctors. Does not matter if you wear D.O. or M.D. on you coat. The best thing to do is be the very best that you can be. Hence, the law of the Harvest is still applicable. You reap what you sow. This I believe to be an eternal principle.
 
DOs definitely get love, the neurologist I shadowed was getting nailed every ten minutes or so.

Freaky chicks though, in to S&M ****. For some reason they liked being electrocuted by the EMG and NCS.
 
engineeredout said:
DOs definitely get love, the neurologist I shadowed was getting nailed every ten minutes or so.

Freaky chicks though, in to S&M ****. For some reason they liked being electrocuted by the EMG and NCS.
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:laugh: this post = win.
 
There is absolutely no reason to compare the degrees as if they are in some sort of race ... and hoping that the DO will pull ahead in the end. As it was pointed out, admission standards are continually rising and will eventually become probably identical, and as more students enter these schools, recognition will probably increase. Also, DOs do have one more tool in their bag in OMM, but it isn't an alternative for western medicine ... simply one more possible treatment. There are good and bad physicians ... and patients choose/continue to see doctors based on their skill and attitude, not (usually) the letters behind their name. You should strive to be the best physician possible ... not to try and out perform another degree. With that said, the DO degree is a great option for becoming a compassionate, well trained physician.
 
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engineeredout said:
DOs definitely get love, the neurologist I shadowed was getting nailed every ten minutes or so.

Freaky chicks though, in to S&M ****. For some reason they liked being electrocuted by the EMG and NCS.
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I guess that settles the MD DO debate. :laugh:
 
engineeredout said:
DOs definitely get love, the neurologist I shadowed was getting nailed every ten minutes or so.

Freaky chicks though, in to S&M ****. For some reason they liked being electrocuted by the EMG and NCS.
Click to expand...

You just love shock value, don't ya? 😀

Bad@$$. 😎
 
JaggerPlate said:
There is absolutely no reason to compare the degrees as if they are in some sort of race ... and hoping that the DO will pull ahead in the end. As it was pointed out, admission standards are continually rising and will eventually become probably identical, and as more students enter these schools, recognition will probably increase. Also, DOs do have one more tool in their bag in OMM, but it isn't an alternative for western medicine ... simply one more possible treatment. There are good and bad physicians ... and patients choose/continue to see doctors based on their skill and attitude, not (usually) the letters behind their name. You should strive to be the best physician possible ... not to try and out perform another degree. With that said, the DO degree is a great option for becoming a compassionate, well trained physician.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself. 👍
 
MSUSpartan642 said:
I have been in between shadowing both M.D. and D.O. Family medicine. While they are both GREAT at what they do and their patients both like them. I have to say I think that the ones who visit the D.O. actually get more out of their visits because of the OMM. I mean I really think that they appreciate it and it makes a huge difference when used. For this reason I literally cannot believe that D.O. has not became more popular. For Family medicine (maybe IM too) do you guys think that D.O. will actually become the favored path down the road or will M.D. always be the popular path? Just wondering?🙂
Click to expand...

Yes, OMM is a great tool. But you have to realize that even in a family practice setting a large majority of the patients you see will NOT benefit from it simply b/c they don't have a problem would require the use of OMM. If you are really excited about OMM, i've heard that PM&R is a great field to utilize OMM techniques, and sports medicine as well.
 
RySerr21 said:
Yes, OMM is a great tool. But you have to realize that even in a family practice setting a large majority of the patients you see will NOT benefit from it simply b/c they don't have a problem would require the use of OMM.
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Well, I'm not so sure about that. While I'm not exactly an OMT enthusiast as compared to some of my colleagues, I do think OMT has a role in the FP's, or PCP's office. From what I gather, MSK complaints are pretty common primary care complaints. A lot of back pain, knee pain, joint pain, neck pain, lateral epicondylitis, arthritis, muscle/fascial tightness, minor sprain/strains, decreased range of motion, rotator-cuff issues, short-leg syndrome, common neuropathies, including carpal tunnel syndrome, other compression neuropathies, radiculopathies, etc. Heck, you could probably throw in some rib and breathing dysfunctions, too. These are all things that OMT can help address as part of a total management plan.
 
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RySerr21 said:
Yes, OMM is a great tool. But you have to realize that even in a family practice setting a large majority of the patients you see will NOT benefit from it simply b/c they don't have a problem would require the use of OMM. If you are really excited about OMM, i've heard that PM&R is a great field to utilize OMM techniques, and sports medicine as well.
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Yeah I agree with SpicedM. Even though I am not a physician yet, I shadowed FP D.O.s that utilized OMM on almost all of their patients, and some for conditions (if I remember correctly) that SpicedM alluded to. Ryserr, I think you are just disappointed you chose to go M.D.!:laugh: Oh well, your school used to be a D.O. school. Maybe they will have some classes on OMM for you. 😀
 
There are more MD family practice doctors than there are total DOs. MD does not mean you can't choose family medicine, or anyone will stand in your way if you want. Same way, DO does not mean you can't choose specialties.

I would specifically inquire about the 3rd and 4th year schedules for all the schools. Most schools are identical in their first two years, but there are big differences in the last two, and you want to be careful about those.
 
Lokhtar said:
There are more MD family practice doctors than there are total DOs. MD does not mean you can't choose family medicine, or anyone will stand in your way if you want. Same way, DO does not mean you can't choose specialties.

I would specifically inquire about the 3rd and 4th year schedules for all the schools. Most schools are identical in their first two years, but there are big differences in the last two, and you want to be careful about those.
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Definitely a good point. Clinicals are important and you need to seek out the truth behind everything and make a decision you will be content with. I also wanted to state though that new school does NOT = bad clinicals/moving all over to get everything done.
 
It's also about how much free time they give you, whether they have a home hospital that provides quality training for your basic blocks (IM, Peds, Surgery, etc). The lack of a quality academic home hospital for most of the DO schools bothers me a little bit, as talking to people from several schools, they really regretted their decision of going to a specific school in their third and fourth years, not the first two. Obviously, the older schools have less need for such a thing as their clinicals are more fleshed out and they have agreements that would provide high quality experiences. So while I don't necessarily think that new schools are necessarily bad, I do think you have to be slightly more careful and inquire more to make sure you aren't putting yourself at a disadvantage during those years. The same applies for new MD schools that are opening that are not directly attached to a university hospital (Commonwealth university in PA for example), so its not a DO-only thing. But generally, most MD hospitals are in fact attached to an academic hospitals, so you have a safety net there.

When its time to pick, and hopefully if I am lucky enough to hold multiple acceptances, my number one criteria is going to be 3rd and 4th year schedules, and opportunities and not location, fit, PBL or not, or anything relating to the first two years. If they the clinicals aren't scheduled right, you can really screw yourself. Of course, that's me.

I've taken four DO schools off my list just for that purpose after talking to at least three students from each of those schools about their third and fourth years. Conversely, there are two or three that I have definitely decided to apply to after looking more closely at their 3rd and fourth years. Obviously, its not possible to talk to schools like Commonwealth or the new DO schools whose students have not gotten to that point yet.
 
Lok, don't completely count out the first two years. They are still very important! (The foundation for COMLEX and USMLE step I). I would agree that years 3/4 are as important as you have stated. If a school does have students travel around, GET A LIST OF THE TEACHING CLINICS/HOSPITALS before you make any decisions.
 
BabyKangaroo said:
Lok, don't completely count out the first two years. They are still very important! (The foundation for COMLEX and USMLE step I). I would agree that years 3/4 are as important as you have stated. If a school does have students travel around, GET A LIST OF THE TEACHING CLINICS/HOSPITALS before you make any decisions.
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He's not, but he's saying that first two are pretty standard no matter where you go ... it's the second two that vary.
 
Exactly. I don't think one school teaches you more neurology than another. They teach everything and its up to you to pick up as much as possible and study for the boards. They're all pretty much the same text books, same cases (in case of PBL), and preparing for the same exam. Not a big difference whether its Hopkins or Commonwealth or PCOM or RVUCOM.

PBL teaching at one school isn't going to be head and shoulder superior to another, for the most part. But the clinical experience could vary, and from talking to med students, very frequently does.
 
Bacchus said:
Down the road, if the degrees don't merge (which they wont --> AOA), its going to be close. Stats are rising every year for matriculants to both types of programs.

I think its safe to say that there is still a rather large gap:

DO - 3.4(5) and 25/26
MD - 3.65 and 31/32

but it is closing.
Click to expand...
It won't if the AOA continues to sprout new DO programs every other year and allow class rosters to balloon out of control like they have been lately.
 
spicedmanna said:
Well, I'm not so sure about that. While I'm not exactly an OMT enthusiast as compared to some of my colleagues, I do think OMT has a role in the FP's, or PCP's office. From what I gather, MSK complaints are pretty common primary care complaints. A lot of back pain, knee pain, joint pain, neck pain, lateral epicondylitis, arthritis, muscle/fascial tightness, minor sprain/strains, decreased range of motion, rotator-cuff issues, short-leg syndrome, common neuropathies, including carpal tunnel syndrome, other compression neuropathies, radiculopathies, etc. Heck, you could probably throw in some rib and breathing dysfunctions, too. These are all things that OMT can help address as part of a total management plan.
Click to expand...

I never said it wasnt useful, I said it was a great tool. Ive shadowed multiple docs that keep up with OMM so that they can use it in their practice,(Family practice and Sports Med) and for a majority of the patients they did NOT use OMM. I spent the whole summer with these docs so saw a lot of patients with them and spent a lot of time there. I also spoke with them about these things. They all said that while OMM is a great tool and they utilize it on occasion, they arent using it on every patient, for the reasons I already said. On a weekly basis I might see the doc do OMM on 2 or 3 patients. For some weeks, they never used it at all. I know part of the problem had to do with insurance reimbursement also. To suggest that the FP docs that still have OMM as a tool use it on all of their pateints is far for true, in my experience.

Kangaroo, I plan on taking an elective in OMM :laugh:
 
Terpskins99 said:
It won't if the AOA continues to sprout new DO programs every other year and allow class rosters to balloon out of control like they have been lately.
Click to expand...

That's why it's best to evaluate it on a school vs school basis.
 
RySerr21 said:
I never said it wasnt useful, I said it was a great tool. Ive shadowed multiple docs that keep up with OMM so that they can use it in their practice,(Family practice and Sports Med) and for a majority of the patients they did NOT use OMM. I spent the whole summer with these docs so saw a lot of patients with them and spent a lot of time there. I also spoke with them about these things. They all said that while OMM is a great tool and they utilize it on occasion, they arent using it on every patient, for the reasons I already said. On a weekly basis I might see the doc do OMM on 2 or 3 patients. For some weeks, they never used it at all. I know part of the problem had to do with insurance reimbursement also. To suggest that the FP docs that still have OMM as a tool use it on all of their pateints is far for true, in my experience.
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Well, either way, we are dealing with a sample bias and relying on anecdotal evidence, so it's all arguable. What's not arguable is that, currently, few DO's use OMT on a regular basis.
 
spicedmanna said:
Well, either way, we are dealing with a sample bias and relying on anecdotal evidence, so it's all arguable. What's not arguable is that, currently, few DO's use OMT on a regular basis.
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Agreed. But apparently the ones that do use it use it on EVERY single patient. 🙄
 
RySerr21 said:
Agreed. But apparently the ones that do use it use it on EVERY single patient. 🙄
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Relax. There's no need to get all sarcastic on me. I never said that it's used on every single pt. I'm really not that big of a fan of OMT, but I do know folks that use it more than just every once in a while.
 
Ryserr21: with your background in kinesiology and athletic training, if you really are into the OMM stuff, you should be able to pick up a few things you can use pretty quickly. A lot of it is very similar to stuff I did with strength and conditioning. PNF, myofascial release, etc.

You would have been a great GA-PCOMer. Our pre-clinical clinical stuff is very sports-medicine-oriented. I had no idea, and I kind of lucked out. Our PCS prof is a sports med doc. He used to be team doc for Virginia Tech football, and now works with Georgia Tech women's basketball, and I think the arena football team, as well as a local high school.
 
spicedmanna said:
Relax. There's no need to get all sarcastic on me. I never said that it's used on every single pt. I'm really not that big of a fan of OMT, but I do know folks that use it more than just every once in a while.
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Chill out man, i wasnt getting sarcastic on you. In fact, I agreed with what you said. I was just playfully teasing the others that DID say it was used on every single patient. No one is getting defensive here but you. I never said that you said that.

BabyKangaroo said:
And I am going to take an elective in medical spanish. I expect to be fluent after that one class :laugh:
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Haha, good one.

TexasTriathlete said:
Ryserr21: with your background in kinesiology and athletic training, if you really are into the OMM stuff, you should be able to pick up a few things you can use pretty quickly. A lot of it is very similar to stuff I did with strength and conditioning. PNF, myofascial release, etc.

You would have been a great GA-PCOMer. Our pre-clinical clinical stuff is very sports-medicine-oriented. I had no idea, and I kind of lucked out. Our PCS prof is a sports med doc. He used to be team doc for Virginia Tech football, and now works with Georgia Tech women's basketball, and I think the arena football team, as well as a local high school.
Click to expand...

Thats awesome that you ended up in that environment. Crazy how things fall in to place 🙂 If I do end up going in to sports medicine, i would love to pick up some techniques here and there.
 
RySerr21 said:
Chill out man, i wasnt getting sarcastic on you. In fact, I agreed with what you said. I was just playfully teasing the others that DID say it was used on every single patient. No one is getting defensive here but you.
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yeah, i guess im the one freaking out then. *sigh* im imagining sarcastic attacks and getting defensive. time to take a long break from posting

anyway, wish you the best. enjoy your break...exciting times are ahead
 
spicedmanna said:
yeah, i guess im the one freaking out then. *sigh* im imagining sarcastic attacks and getting defensive. time to take a long break from posting

anyway, wish you the best. enjoy your break...exciting times are ahead
Click to expand...

no worries. Simple misunderstanding. good luck to you too. :luck:
 
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