DO doing the HPSP

[dudeliness]

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Hey, first post here. I'm applying DO this cycle and already have one acceptance and 7 or so more interviews to go. My wife and I are considering the HPSP to pay for school and I know this has been asked a lot but I would like to hear people's opinions on pros and cons specific to being a DO.
I dont have a specific specialty in mind, don't mind moving around with my family (wife and 2 yr old daughter), would deal with going overseas for 6 months or whatever. Always considered military service and this seems like a good way to do that and take care of a massive amount of debt too.
I welcome any thoughts. Thanks

 

[Loudster]

Specific to DO? I don't think there's really much of a difference between the MD and DO sides. They'll reimburse you for an omt table and for the comlex if you're a DO student, other than that nothing really comes to mind.

 

[DocArmy]

Hey, first post here. I'm applying DO this cycle and already have one acceptance and 7 or so more interviews to go. My wife and I are considering the HPSP to pay for school and I know this has been asked a lot but I would like to hear people's opinions on pros and cons specific to being a DO.
I dont have a specific specialty in mind, don't mind moving around with my family (wife and 2 yr old daughter), would deal with going overseas for 6 months or whatever. Always considered military service and this seems like a good way to do that and take care of a massive amount of debt too.
I welcome any thoughts. Thanks

You should read all of the stickies. Lots of good info there.

Don't do it just for the money. You should do it because you have a deep desire to be a military officer and serve your country. Otherwise you're setting yourself up to hate life. That said, the Army is approximately 40% DO's, so no, there isn't a bias. There may be some attendings that don't like DO's, but that is going to exist anywhere. I've also heard of some residencies that were less DO friendly (Neurosurg was the one that I heard specifically). But, as far as primary care goes, there are lots of DO's. Folks on the ground like to see DO's because the military is a very physical job. Lots of musculoskeletal injury to be treated and OMT is very good at musculoskeletal stuff. I have lots of enlisted family members who love to see their military DO and get their back fixed or their shoulder worked on or whatever.

Again, read the stickies. Google the FAP (fellowship assistance program), think about if you would commit to work for a company for 11 years minimum, then decide. (Once you sign, you're in the military and you can be punished per the UCMJ, so 4 years med school, plus 3 residency, plus 4 post residency = 11 years of the military being your employer).

 

[corpsman33]

Hey, first post here. I'm applying DO this cycle and already have one acceptance and 7 or so more interviews to go. My wife and I are considering the HPSP to pay for school and I know this has been asked a lot but I would like to hear people's opinions on pros and cons specific to being a DO.
I dont have a specific specialty in mind, don't mind moving around with my family (wife and 2 yr old daughter), would deal with going overseas for 6 months or whatever. Always considered military service and this seems like a good way to do that and take care of a massive amount of debt too.
I welcome any thoughts. Thanks

The United States Military/civil service have given DO's equal practice rights with MD's since 1963 (well at least according to my OPP history lecture a few weeks back, lol).
However you would be required to do an ACGME (aka MD residency) residency through the military unless you applied for a separate civilian residency, in which case you might be able to do an AOA residency.
I think the military is actually very osteopathic friendly and there are a higher percentage DO's in the military then on the civilian side of things.

 

[dudeliness]

Thanks for the info guys! I'll read up on those stickies when I get off work today.
I don't know much about how the civilian residency match works, let alone a military match, but I'd heard that it's harder to match in the military. I'm assuming they meant its harder to match something competitive like surgery. I dont know if you list your top 3 or whatever choices and if you dont get #1 or #2 then you get #3 or something like that. Is that right?
What ive been told is that if you don't match, again I'm assuming that means not matching at all anywhere, then you do a 1 yr internship (what's that?) and then 2 years as a GMO. Any truth to that?
Again, I appreciate the input guys.

 

[jabreal00]

The military is DO friendly. I see DOs in most specialties (Army). There were more DOs in all specialties when I trained at BAMC for residency. A few of the neurosurgery staff (no residency) were DOs at BAMC. When I did fellowship at Walter Reed I saw DOs but they tended to be in the primary care (FP, IM, Peds, Neurology etc) than the competitive ones (ortho, neurosurgery, optho etc).

The poster above stated that it's 11 years in the military (4 yrs med school, 3 years residency and 4 years pay back). Well that's not exactly accurate. In med school, one is in the individual ready reserve. This time does not count towards one's active duty time or towards retirement. Only the USUSH students counts, only after they get to 20 years, those four years of medical school are added to the 20. For non-prior military, HPSP the time starts during residency.

Anyways, think long and hard about it. The military route will definitely make things more comfortable during medical school and residency because of the pay. However, one is not in control of where they go after that. The likelihood of being stationed to a nice foreign location in Europe is rare straight out of residency. Most new attendings get fairly crappy duty locations (Ft Campbell, Ft Leonard-Wood, Fort Polk, Fort Bragg, Fort Sill etc). This is because priority is given to FAP folks, those who already have a tour of duty and request an assignment change or those whose obligation is up and the military is trying to entice them to stay. Newly trained attendings get the scraps.