DO General Surgery & Family Practice Dual Residency

[the_last_banana]

Hi everyone,

I'm almost certain I want to go the DO route because I am really fascinated by their treatment philosophy. I think having the additional training in OMM would be especially useful for me, considering I am strongly considering going into family practice. However, I'm also interested in doing general surgery as well.

Would it be possible to specialize in both? I know that getting into surgical residencies as a DO has traditionally been harder than allopathic medical students. Maybe it's naive of me, but I think it'd be awesome to be able to offer a patient such a wide range of services, from non-invasive treatments to actually performing surgery. Can this be done?

TL;DR: Want to do both general surgery and family practice as a DO. Is it possible?

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[Isoval]

Yes. It is possible.

Keep in mind that dual-board residencies are hard even for the better MD students to match and it will be very competitive.

 

[rg2o3]

Going DO will only hinder your ability. Possible, but more difficult. Gen Surg isn’t extremely competitive for MD, but is relatively competitive for DO. If you can go MD, then do it. More doors will be open to you.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yes. It is possible.

Keep in mind that dual-board residencies are hard even for the better MD students to match and it will be very competitive.

What? No. Doing general surgery and family practice is not possible. Completely different fields. And there is no such thing as a dual-board residency in GS and FM.

 

[Isoval]

What? No. Doing general surgery and family practice is not possible. Completely different fields. And there is no such thing as a dual-board residency in GS and FM.

But, like, if there was one

 

[Mad Jack]

Hi everyone,

I'm almost certain I want to go the DO route because I am really fascinated by their treatment philosophy. I think having the additional training in OMM would be especially useful for me, considering I am strongly considering going into family practice. However, I'm also interested in doing general surgery as well.

Would it be possible to specialize in both? I know that getting into surgical residencies as a DO has traditionally been harder than allopathic medical students. Maybe it's naive of me, but I think it'd be awesome to be able to offer a patient such a wide range of services, from non-invasive treatments to actually performing surgery. Can this be done?

TL;DR: Want to do both general surgery and family practice as a DO. Is it possible?

Skill atrophy would make you a worse surgeon than your purely surgical peers. If you want to be the best doctor for your patients, be a master of one area, not a jack of all trades. Research has time and time again proven that practice makes perfect and not fully devoting yourself to a procedural specialty is harmful to your outcomes

 

[sab3156]

I'm almost certain I want to go the DO route because I am really fascinated by their treatment philosophy. I think having the additional training in OMM would be especially useful for me, considering I am strongly considering going into family practice. However, I'm also interested in doing general surgery as well.

First of all, this "treatment philosophy" marketing gimmick is a fraud. And believe me, OMM is not going to help you and it's just going to take thousands of hours away from actually important things like board studying.

Second of all, you will receive much better opportunities at an MD school, so if you want to do surgery, go MD. No question.

 

[jcve34]

Hi everyone,

I'm almost certain I want to go the DO route because I am really fascinated by their treatment philosophy. I think having the additional training in OMM would be especially useful for me, considering I am strongly considering going into family practice. However, I'm also interested in doing general surgery as well.

Would it be possible to specialize in both? I know that getting into surgical residencies as a DO has traditionally been harder than allopathic medical students. Maybe it's naive of me, but I think it'd be awesome to be able to offer a patient such a wide range of services, from non-invasive treatments to actually performing surgery. Can this be done?

TL;DR: Want to do both general surgery and family practice as a DO. Is it possible?

OMM has its place (with some treatment methods). That being said it definitely doesn’t have a place in surgical specialties except for a very minute application in Ortho (if any). If you want to actually use OMM you should probably stick to FM or some pain management focus. Other than that it really doesn’t serve a purpose other than to make extra money on encounters/make a patient feel better. Sorry if this burst your bubble. You’ll see if you end up going DO. Most of us had the naive “I love the philosophy of osteopathic medicine” until it became clear that medicine in general has moved to the “whole person approach”.

 

[MyGrainAura]

It has its place in disimpacting a set of bowels here and there.

 

[the_last_banana]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It's given me a lot to think about