d.o. vs. m.d. psych residency

[ygolordned]

i am a third year medical student from lecom. i am pretty sure that i want to do psych for my residency. since i am in d.o. medical school, i would prefer to do a d.o. residency. at the same time, there are about ten d.o. psych residency programs in the country vs. numerous m.d. programs. i just wanted to get everyone's take on the issue. since there are so few, are the d.o. residencies that hard to get? how are the m.d. residencies for d.o.s that are currently in one? will m.d. programs take just comlex scores or do they require usmle? thanks

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[st2205]

I think a couple of them went unfilled this year (may want to check that, though). A couple of them (UMDNJ-SOM, UNTHS and I believe MSU) take MDs, as well, and you can find reviews for these programs on scutwork.com as well as the interview review thread. Also, they just matched residents this year to open a program at Grandview Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

As for the DO only residencies, I know little outside of the fact that LECOM's residency pays you 35k/yr.

 

[235750]

The quality really seems to vary. One DO residency location is actually with the Florida department of corrections: your site is a prison. I don't really count that as a residency. I am interested to hear what other people think about that one!

Look at the programs on http://opportunities.osteopathic.org/ and click program search to look at the DO residencies.

Up until recently were only two DO residencies in psychiatry in the country: one at Millcreek (lecom), and one at Our Lady of Lourdes (umdnj), but now there are ten. Like any residency program, you need to look at each individually. Most sites are dual ACGME accredited which is good if you plan on leaving the US (like me) as many countries look for that, or if you are thinking about a fellowship

Millcreek has a bit of a bad wrap, what with it being so small, and I have not found anything useful about umdnj. It's all a bit of a mystery.

I know people who have been to our lady for non-psych rotations and they said they learned a lot. I've emailed psych residents at our lady and they've never gotten back to me. One of the big contributors to this forum, whopper, went to umdnj for his/her residency, but the MD version, and he posted that our lady was unknown to him as well.

If there is anyone out there who is a resident at a DO, please post your experiences!

 

[Red Beard]

i am a third year medical student from lecom. i am pretty sure that i want to do psych for my residency. since i am in d.o. medical school, i would prefer to do a d.o. residency. at the same time, there are about ten d.o. psych residency programs in the country vs. numerous m.d. programs. i just wanted to get everyone's take on the issue. since there are so few, are the d.o. residencies that hard to get? how are the m.d. residencies for d.o.s that are currently in one? will m.d. programs take just comlex scores or do they require usmle? thanks

I applied to allopathic programs for psych only, and got an interview at every place I applied to EXCEPT Stanford and OHSU (applied to every program in the West.) In retrospect, I didn't need to apply to so many places. Caveat: won't find out if I matched for another few days

My personal bias is that there is probably an advantage to doing a university psychiatry program because you will get a wider range of training opportunities, access to research, and access to fellowships that you aren't going to get as easily at a community (i.e. DO) program.

 

[st2205]

Every time I would see the Florida one with the prison I thought there had to be something else to it. Perhaps you're right. I don't know, none of these programs really have any info on their websites. The UMDNJ one did get a couple of lukewarm reviews on scutwork.

 

[DrRazberrySwirl]

i am a lecom grad in an MD program in NYC. feel free to PM me with specific questions.

 

[ygolordned]

so the other eight programs are new within the last year or two? i am from michigan originally, and i am doing most of my rotations here now, so i am specifically interested in the two programs available in michigan. does anyone know about those?

what about comlex scores only for md residencies? i know it varies by program, but do you have any gross approximation as to how may also require usmle? like half?

i am currently doing an elective in addiction psychiatry in kalamazoo, michigan. i found out that their program last year had 1100 applicants for four spots with only forty interviews being offered. are most of the md residencies this tough?

 

[Psychelle]

I applied to allopathic programs for psych only, and got an interview at every place I applied to EXCEPT Stanford and OHSU (applied to every program in the West.)

I found the lack of variety in the interviewees at OHSU a bit disappointing. I know opinions on this vary a lot, but I liked the programs that interviewed the "best" applicants, even if they had different initials after their names or weren't from a U.S. school.

 

[peppy]

The opinion that I have heard from a couple people is that the Michigan residencies are the best of the DO psych residencies (and they have been around for at least several years by the way). I don't have enough experience with the other residencies to say much about how they compare from my own perspective, but I have met the leaders of the Henry Ford residency in Detroit and I think they are great people, very intelligent and friendly.

 

[DrRazberrySwirl]

what about comlex scores only for md residencies? i know it varies by program, but do you have any gross approximation as to how may also require usmle? like half?

technically no md program can require usmle scores from a do applicant. thats not saying they may not give your application the time of day if you dont have it, but i dont think you'll be able to get that question answered accurately because no program is going to say that. i had usmle step i scores, but not ii. i didnt get all of the interviews i wanted, but i got enough

 

[Way2Swanky]

I'm interested to know your reasoning for wanting to do a DO psych residency. Is OMM being used to treat psychosis and mood disorders?

i am a third year medical student from
lecom. i am pretty sure that i want to do psych for my residency. since i am in d.o. medical school, i would prefer to do a d.o. residency. at the same time, there are about ten d.o. psych residency programs in the country vs. numerous m.d. programs. i just wanted to get everyone's take on the issue. since there are so few, are the d.o. residencies that hard to get? how are the m.d. residencies for d.o.s that are currently in one? will m.d. programs take just comlex scores or do they require usmle? thanks

 

[ygolordned]

so would it be possible to attempt to do the d.o. match first, and if for some reason that does not work, proceed with the m.d. match?

 

[peppy]

Yes, you can definitely do that. The DO match takes place first, so if you match in the DO match you just get pulled out of the MD match.

As for the issue of OMM in DO residencies, I've never seen OMM used on a psych patient by a psychiatrist. DO psych residencies are just like MD residencies in their general approaches from what I've seen. From seeing OMM used in family medicine clinic, however, I do think that OMM tends to attract the somatizing patients who may feel like it is more acceptable to visit the physician on a regular basis for OMM for their vague pain complaints rather than to talk about their anxiety/depression issues.

 

[whopper]

have not found anything useful about umdnj. It's all a bit of a mystery.

I talked to the PD at that program at an NJPA meeting. He said that his program for years did not fill up all its spots (though I'm sure that's different these days), and asked me why.

I told him that several M.D.s don't believe they could apply into his program, which he said was not true. Another thing was no one mentioned his program. At the time I applied, everyone said there were only 3 UMDNJ programs, all M.D.s

 

[imari]

I believe that only two spots went unfilled in the DO match for psych, and those were at arrowhead regional in CA. That program had funding problems, however they have obtained funding for next year recently. Not sure if those spots are filled now.

 

[whopper]

Not sure if those spots are filled now.

I'm not following the MATCH closely because obviously I'm not in it. Though I currently have a medical student shadowing me, and I told him to take the day off so he could find out where he matched, calm his anxiety, and have some deserved fun today.

When the word gets out of a psychiatry program with some unfilled spots, if the current application trend continues, I'm sure it'll be filled up within minutes, if not hours to days (unless the program for some reason wants to hold off of getting new people).

 

[cheekiemunky]

I know this is an old thread, but if anybody is still curious, check it out:
http://www.acofp.org/email/images/1009_Students/NSUCOM.pdf yes, the residency is at a prison.

 

[beezley]

ygolordned-

Don't just look at the numbers. I am an MD from MI and interviewed at many of the MI programs. Even though the Kzoo program sounds competitive if you are American, from a US school and a likeable person and passed Steps 1 and 2 you will probably match there just fine. Nearly all their residents are from international schools. Which is not to say they aren't good, they are all nice people, but there is more of an unknown in international than from US schools. (hope I am not starting a major controversy here). I interviewed there and really liked it, great people, but wanted to go somewhere with fellowship availability and more of a 'known' name.

I'm at another big 10 university and we have DOs in our program too. PM me if you want.

 

[st2205]

I know this is an old thread, but if anybody is still curious, check it out:
http://www.acofp.org/email/images/1009_Students/NSUCOM.pdf yes, the residency is at a prison.

I wonder if their graduates have any difficulty finding jobs that don't involve incarceration.