I'm sure it's been made abundantly clear by now, but I'll explain it to you as well lol
A DO is a fully functioning physician in the U.S. And is recognized as such by almost all first world countries.
A DO learns everything an MD learns during medical school plus Osteopathic Manipulation. Which as been shown to have some clinical applications, but is largely seen as snake oil by most physicians.
Here is where it gets a little hairy. A DO can specialize in anything an MD can, but most DO graduates go into primary care (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology). This is because of a couple of factors:
1) largely most DO schools are situated in rural/ medically underserved areas. So their main goals is to provide the general area with primary care physicians. So in some ways the medical students at a DO school are almost groomed for primary care. Look at school missions for places like WVSOM, CUSOM, or LMU-DCOM.
2) most competitive specialties (Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, ENT, And Dermatology) are at large/prestigious MD programs that will blatantly throw away DO applications. In addition, there are only a few programs that accept DOs/ are DO only programs, so they get their pick of the litter.
3) post AOA/ACGME residency merger there will no longer be DO-only residencies for competitive residencies. Truthfully, no one really knows what will happen, so do not freak out when you see someone claiming "THE MD/DO MERGER WILL DESTROY THE DO PROFESSION." They are talking out of their ass and have no idea what they are talking about. Most likely residencies will get more competitive, but in a good way. As in a Medical student that makes exclusively C's and barely passed board exams will have a harder/impossible time placing as compared to an A/B student who did well on his boards.
The people who lose out are bad US medical graduates and the international medical graduates (low quality international medical programs and the Carribean). Don't let anyone tell you that you will not get a residency post merger as a DO student. As long as you do well and don't fail multiple years/ take your boards 3+ times to pass you will be fine. Even if some of the AOA residencies shut down, there are still more residency programs than there are US medical students (MD and DO).
Just focus on attending a U.S. Medical school (MD or DO), and be a successful medical student. If you do that, you will be well on your way to becoming a practicing physician.
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