Interesting that you post this in the Nursing forum instead of the pre-MD or pre-DO or MD or DO forums.
The main difference between MD and DO in the United States as perceived via general population?
With an MD after your name, you are immediately recognized as a medical doctor. With a DO, not really (except for those who were premeds or have relatives w/ DO or have been treated by DOs or are from other countries w/ non-physician DOs)
So the majority of patients don't know what a DO is. So that means that they are not primed to be biased against DOs.
If a patient notices the DO, most often, they will ask what a DO is, out of curiosity. The physician (DO) will then explain and the patient will be satisfy.
The bias against DOs occurs mainly among the premed community. No where else does the bias against DOs occur (except for foreign governments like France who don't recognize Osteopathic Medicine)
Anyway - hope this answers your question (I tried to be objective in answering your question but obviously I am very pro-DO. Keep this in mind when reading this post)
Group_theory
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PCOM Class of 2007