DO Licensing Restrictions in Certain States and Internationally???

[Cricket]

I'm a student at AZCOM and remember hearing that there are 5 states that have restrictions or hoops DOs have to jump through to practice there - does anyone know which states these are and what the restrictions are? (Ex: having to do a DO residency, etc.) Also, are there certain countries we can't practice in? I know England is resistant to DOs, but if I wanted to do medical missions in more underdeveloped countries, are there any restrictions that we have that MDs don't? Any info would be appreciated.

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[group_theory]

The five states are: Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Florida, and Oklahoma

In order to obtain a medical license, you need to have completed an osteopathic internship.

However, some people have been able to get the AOA to recognize their ACGME internship as AOA-equivalent internship (and thus meeting the AOA internship requirements).

Some provinces in Canada and Europe are not kind to American trained DOs because they have their own non-medical DOs and it would confuse the public. In some countries, it is almost impossible to get permission to practice medicine, whether you are MD or DO.

I doubt that underdeveloped countries w/ great medical need and physician shortage will care whether you are an MD or DO. Beggers can't be choosers. Besides, there are plenty of osteopathic physicians in "Doctors w/o Borders"

 

[DOSouthpaw]

As far as mission work is concerned, you will be just as fine as an MD. As long as you (MD or DO) don't kill alot of people or start passing out birth control in Central or South American countries, either a DO or MD will be fine. If you do start acting up....it depends on the village you're in and what they feel like doing to you.

The problem that you will run into in 3rd world countries is if you want to get lincensed there. Most do not recognise DO's, but that's ok, because even though their laws recognise MD's most will still not license them becuase those countries are soooo poor that they want to give their money to people from their country. In full time mission work, the cash you get paid is coming from the US or other outside country, so the country doesn't care becuase you are not working on their or their people's dime.

 

[jgrieco]

It was my understanding that (in FL at least) the requirement was to complete a one year rotating internship or the equivalent in your residency program whether osteopathic of allopathic. As long as you have done this you wouldn't have problems. That is the way it was explained to me by Dr. Oliva, past president of the AOA, current board member and one of the doctors responsible for approving licenses in FL.

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by jgrieco
It was my understanding that (in FL at least) the requirement was to complete a one year rotating internship or the equivalent in your residency program whether osteopathic of allopathic.

That's how it works in Oklahoma.

 

[DrQuinn]

Originally posted by jgrieco
It was my understanding that (in FL at least) the requirement was to complete a one year rotating internship or the equivalent in your residency program whether osteopathic of allopathic. As long as you have done this you wouldn't have problems. That is the way it was explained to me by Dr. Oliva, past president of the AOA, current board member and one of the doctors responsible for approving licenses in FL.

You're relatively correct. There are just four required months during an internship year tha thave ot be completed for it to count... Two months of IM, one month of EM, and one month of OB/GYN. Most internship years have this. As a first year EM intern, I easily meet this criteria.

Q, DO