DO and Surgery

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

spyyder31

Senior Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
May 28, 2000
Messages
128
Reaction score
0
Are there any Osteopathic programs out there that give any extra emphasis on going into surgery? From what I gather, osteopathic programs seem to focus pretty extensively on primary care. This is great! Because as of right now, I would love to see myself as a family prac. But what if I change my mind sometime during my medical training? Being in a DO program that targets primary care wouldn't hurt me...would it??
I'm going to the Osteopathic Medicine Awareness Conference at COMP this weekend, and I'm sure that I will get some invaluable info on this topic there. I was just curious to hear what you guys/gals think.

Members don't see this ad.
 
To answer your question in brief- yes, DOs can get all kinds of surgical residencies. No, you will not be limited by going to an osteopathic medical school. To put it simply, DOs are trained as primary care physicians first, then can specialize in surgery or internal medicine subspecialties. Being trained in primary care first gives a strong foundation to your medical repitoire.
 
Consider that a bonus - as Nathan states, a strong education in primary care will be a great foundation for WHATEVER specialty you eventually pursue. One of the major problems with US medical education IMHO is that we push people to specialize too soon without benefit of a good generalist education.

Please do not worry that an education at a school with a primary care mission will hurt your chances of becoming a surgeon or anything else you want to be. It may get irritating to hear "when you become an FP" all the time (I know I got tired of it), but your job in medical school is to get a good foundation, not prepare yourself for future specialization.

------------------
PGY1
Penn State University
Department of Surgery

[This message has been edited by Kimberli Cox (edited April 24, 2001).]
 
Don't worry about getting into a surgery oriented program. You can always do an externship somewhere else. Your first priority is to get accepted somewhere. Once you get some choices (ie, more than one acceptance), then you can start comparing.

Good luck.
 
Top