DO is a four year degree

[Helen Wheels]

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In the past few months I have had several people ask me if DO is a four year degree. What kind of bugs me is that most of the people asking this are MDs! Now, DOs are definitely a minority in western PA but, I mean, don't they realize that DOs are their colleagues and doing the same thing as they are? 😕 I know people have said on here that you will sometimes have to explain to patients what a DO is but will you have to explain to your MD colleagues, too?

The other common question I get (not from MDs but from family and friends) is, "You can't keep your full time job while you go to school?" 🙄

 

[hawkeye pierce]

At upmc-presbyterian there are multiple do's working in every from anesthesia, surgery to the IM subspecialties.

 

[MossPoh]

If you say you are "Getting your D.O." or "Going to an osteopathic school" there ARE going to be people who don't know what it is. It isn't a bias thing. They just aren't aware. They are spending all the time we are looking into stuff. I've never actually heard a D.O. explain his or her degree, but I've also never heard them enter a room saying "I'm so_and_so, D.O." they usually introduce themselves as Doctor.

The job question is common. Many people in other graduate programs may do something on the side, so they expect us to have the same amount of free time. Realistically, I could've during first year but I would have been miserable.

 

[hawkeye pierce]

I know. I'm just saying that there are DO's in swpa. In fact, PA has one of the higher population of DO's.

 

[willen101383]

I know. I'm just saying that there are DO's in swpa. In fact, PA has one of the higher population of DO's.

Agreed. PCOM and LECOM. Plus pretty sure we (pcom) have residencies/rotation sites at some UPMC hospitals.

I dont tell anyone that I go to a DO school. If they ask I just say I am a medical student. Its never gone deeper unless the person is either aware of my school and knows what DOs are.

The job thing annoys me a bit though. Granted I am trying to pick up hours again at my old job now that "the brunt" of m1 is over and its sort of light until we go off for the summer.

It usually comes from people I know in nsg. "oh well I work fulltime AND go to nursing school full time" another good one from my friend in nsg school "Seriously? You guys havent started clinical stuff yet?...weve been doing clinicals since like the first week of school."

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I'm actually not too surprised that even some practicing MD's don't know about the DO degree. If it wasn't for SDN, then I probably wouldn't know that DO degree existed, much less that it was a 4 year degree. It's funny because I talked to my old pediatrician a couple days ago about medical school and walked by four offices within the medical plaza which were DO's.

 

[Rob C]

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[JaggerPlate]

If an MD is really asking you what a DO is, you should run and get your healthcare elsewhere. They probably got their degree from a degree mill in the caribbean.

Nah, medicine is a series of isolated bubbles, vaguely connected to one another via referrals and the occasional conference. The HUGE amount of tunnel vision and segregation is, in my opinion, a big reason why DO/MDs have such a hard time fighting off midlevel invasion. It also makes it so most docs spend a lot of time focusing on their own practice, field, etc, and not much outside of this (just from what I've observed).

BTW ... whoever said it was a 4 year degree, you're wrong: it's a 7 year minimum degree if you plan on doing anything with it.

 

[Helen Wheels]

If an MD is really asking you what a DO is, you should run and get your healthcare elsewhere. They probably got their degree from a degree mill in the caribbean.

Actually, two of the MDs that asked me if it was four years I know for a fact graduated from a US Top 20 med school. I didn't get the impression that any of these MDs were completely clueless about DO but they were unsure enough to ask if it was 4 years.

BTW ... whoever said it was a 4 year degree, you're wrong: it's a 7 year minimum degree if you plan on doing anything with it

Well, that's true but you do get the piece of paper with DO behind your name after four years. 😉