DO, MD or MDO - what would you prefer?

[hussamdein]

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The only annoying thing about the title is hearing the occasional "Whats a DO?" from people (friends and family). Other than that I don't think the title difference is that big of a deal.

Besides... when people are really sick, they aren't going to care about two letters as much as they're going to care about your knowledge and ability to diagnose and treat their problem.

I think the title issue is made out to be a lot worse than it really is. Only on SDN have I seen it be an issue. From my experience, it seems to bother the students more than the actual practicing physicians. It's like when you're in the army. The ones bitching about being there are rarely the ones who are risking their lives and doing the actual work.

 

[ChiDO]

The ACGME has recently declared that the only people that can display MD are those that earned that degree, Foreign Grads, most of which earn a MBBS( Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) previously were automatically given an MD title in the US. Now foreign grads must use their degree of MBBS ONLY. This goes for ID tags, Introductions, White coats etc... This essentially set up a 3rd type of physician in the US, MD, DO and MBBS. Its makes no difference what you are named you do the same job, Those going to the Caribbean which have ties to Britain etc..., will no longer earn a MD but a MBBS. People will be confused about what a MBBS is also.

I've seen many hospitals where everyone is given an MD because that is how the copmuter system is setup and in all practicality there is no use in changing it since all the degrees allow you to do the same thing.

 

[christina30]

I have a bunch of DO friends doing their residency who would laugh at you right now for even thinking that...

I don't see what's funny - all they said was that it's their loss to write off something that really just acts as another set of tools for you to use in treating a patient.

It's one thing to say you aren't particularly interested in a field/subject/etc, but to laugh it off and/or say it's worthless is *****ic. I may not be interested in surgical specialties, but that doesn't mean I laugh and say anything I ever learned in regards to surgery is worthless.

It's not our fault some people are still upset that they're just MD rejects. Insecurities abound in this thread 🙂

 

[GoLytely]

bump.

come on guys, this stuff is hilarious.

 

[GoLytely]

I've seen many hospitals where everyone is given an MD because that is how the copmuter system is setup and in all practicality there is no use in changing it since all the degrees allow you to do the same thing.

I highly, highly doubt that there are actually many hospitals doing this. Putting the wrong degree (i.e. not the one you've earned) on a white coat and ID badge since there's "no use changing it" is absurd. The places to which you're referring must be entirely run by embittered, jealous DOs.

The answer to all of this: when your profession begins to respect itself and be proud of its degree, only then will it acquire the same recognition enjoyed by the MD degree.

P.S. - Gotta love the people who voted to change their DO to an MD. That's just plain sad.

 

[JaggerPlate]

I highly, highly doubt that there are actually many hospitals doing this. Putting the wrong degree (i.e. not the one you've earned) on a white coat and ID badge since there's "no use changing it" is absurd. The places to which you're referring must be entirely run by embittered, jealous DOs.

The answer to all of this: when your profession begins to respect itself and be proud of its degree, only then will it acquire the same recognition enjoyed by the MD degree.

P.S. - Gotta love the people who voted to change their DO to an MD. That's just plain sad.

You're a troll, so I shouldn't bother ... but putting 'MD' on all physician name badges, or 'page MD,' 'attending MD,' are common, common practices in hospitals. I worked at one for two years, and all DOs had 'DO' on their scrubs/coats, and MD on their nametags ... it's just what happens. They print them out, and it's just how it is. Also, have you ever tried to deal with procedural stuff at a non-profit hospital??? Good luck. Try to just walk up to an office and get a new name badge printed out with a degree that NO one else in the hospital has on their badge. It's not people wanting to pretend they are MDs ... it's people getting an assigned badge, and practicing medicine like a grown up.

 

[Cybii]

I highly, highly doubt that there are actually many hospitals doing this. Putting the wrong degree (i.e. not the one you've earned) on a white coat and ID badge since there's "no use changing it" is absurd. The places to which you're referring must be entirely run by embittered, jealous DOs.

The answer to all of this: when your profession begins to respect itself and be proud of its degree, only then will it acquire the same recognition enjoyed by the MD degree.

P.S. - Gotta love the people who voted to change their DO to an MD. That's just plain sad.

Agree. I feel like a lot of pre-DOs on this forum really let their insecurities show about their future title and pre-MDs are a little too hasty to judge the DO route. It's hard to blame them though, there is very little public knowledge on the subject between the two degrees (mostly because the general public doesn't really care to know as long as they are being treated by a competent doctor).


It would be nice if they changed MD to DA (Doctor of Allopathic Medicine) to keep it constant with the DO title. But that will never happen. Just musing...

Just my 0.02 cents.

 

[Grey Wind]

I highly, highly doubt that there are actually many hospitals doing this. Putting the wrong degree (i.e. not the one you've earned) on a white coat and ID badge since there's "no use changing it" is absurd. The places to which you're referring must be entirely run by embittered, jealous DOs.

The answer to all of this: when your profession begins to respect itself and be proud of its degree, only then will it acquire the same recognition enjoyed by the MD degree.

P.S. - Gotta love the people who voted to change their DO to an MD. That's just plain sad.

i 'highly highly doubt' you've spent much time in a hospital or have paid attention to how one is actually run. a badge machine operator isnt going to give a rats ass about your degree - all they see is physician so they make a physician name tag, which means MD in to said operator in most cases.

 

[GoLytely]

i 'highly highly doubt' you've spent much time in a hospital or have paid attention to how one is actually run.
.

Actually, premed, I've spent 2 full years now in a hospital, and have never seen a DO with an MD anywhere on their person and/or ID badge. Good to know you'll be secretly praying they screw yours up... 👎

Maybe my school has masterful ID-printing employees, apparently a rare commodity. They actually put different names on each, too, impressive as that sounds.

All sarcasm aside, I just want DOs to be happy with their degrees so that little threads like this one don't distract me from my regular acknowledgment of them as capable, well-trained physicians equal to MDs.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Actually, premed, I've spent 2 full years now in a hospital, and have never seen a DO with an MD anywhere on their person and/or ID badge. Good to know you'll be secretly praying they screw yours up... 👎

Maybe my school has masterful ID-printing employees, apparently a rare commodity. They actually put different names on each, too, impressive as that sounds.

All sarcasm aside, I just want DOs to be happy with their degrees so that little threads like this one don't distract me from my regular acknowledgment of them as capable, well-trained physicians equal to MDs.

Well, you're definitely projecting the idea of a happy, content brotherhood ...

 

[Maybeknot]

My perspective as an allo grad...

The curriculum and requirements for the DO and MD are essentially indistinguishable, with the exception of OMM (and every DO that I personally know thinks it's a waste of time, but that's _just_ my personal experience, so please don't flame me.) I'd have no problem with physicians who have completed medical school, and particularly if they've done an allo residency, wanting to avoid confusion with the DO/MD initials at the end of their name. Why not give them a choice when they graduate? My undergrad let their grad students choose between Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science (which makes much more sense than PhD, after all.)

Better yet, I don't the point of having 2 separate medical education systems. If you really want to do OMM, make it an elective or an option. Having to deal with 2 separate-yet-basically-equal systems requires 2 redundant accreditation systems, 2 redundant exam systems, etc. What's the point, other than to waste valuable resources?

 

[christina30]

You're a troll, so I shouldn't bother ... but putting 'MD' on all physician name badges, or 'page MD,' 'attending MD,' are common, common practices in hospitals. I worked at one for two years, and all DOs had 'DO' on their scrubs/coats, and MD on their nametags ... it's just what happens. They print them out, and it's just how it is. Also, have you ever tried to deal with procedural stuff at a non-profit hospital??? Good luck. Try to just walk up to an office and get a new name badge printed out with a degree that NO one else in the hospital has on their badge. It's not people wanting to pretend they are MDs ... it's people getting an assigned badge, and practicing medicine like a grown up.

Similarly: Here in New York, they issue MD license plates, and they go to both MDs and DOs. Who cares? It's just so you can park throughout the city in certain "physician only" designated areas.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Similarly: Here in New York, they issue MD license plates, and they go to both MDs and DOs. Who cares? It's just so you can park throughout the city in certain "physician only" designated areas.

In CA, we have stickers ... and in the past they said: "MD California Physician" and they now say "MD California Physician DO" 👍

 

[jcpenny]

In CA, we have stickers ... and in the past they said: "MD California Physician" and they now say "MD California Physician DO" 👍

That's pretty funny and redundant It's like saying Physician California Physician Physician

 

[JaggerPlate]

That's pretty funny and redundant It's like saying Physician California Physician Physician

Hahaha, well it's designed cool and doesn't quite look like it says physician California Physician physician.

For some reason though, I can't find a picture of it!!

 

[ChemMed]

Personally I like DOM.....use your imagination. Other than that I could care less as long as I can become a physician.

 

[BassCaster]

Personally I like DOM.....use your imagination. Other than that I could care less as long as I can become a physician.

this is what i came up with a millisecond after i read, "use your imagination."

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images...38416612400/Vin-Diesel-as-Dom-Toretto-001.jpg

Dom Toretto. Fail. 😡

 

[docdoc121]

If you're a D.O. in New York and wanted physician license plates for whatever reason, then you'd get something like the following:

http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/New_York/ny-meddoc.jpg

 

[Semicolon]

These are all the "profession" plates that NY offers:

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/profpl8.htm

We even have plates for acupuncturists and hypnotherapists! God knows that's necessary.

 

[christina30]

If you're a D.O. in New York and wanted physician license plates for whatever reason, then you'd get something like the following:

http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/New_York/ny-meddoc.jpg

Yeah, this is what I was just talking about. All licensed physicians get MD plates - but we do have plates for other ridiculous professions, so it probs wouldn't kill them to make a DO plate.

 

[ncguy2005]

These are all the "profession" plates that NY offers:

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/profpl8.htm

We even have plates for acupuncturists and hypnotherapists! God knows that's necessary.

I can understand MD/DO and DMD/DDS, but everything else seems absolutely ridiculous to me. I thought the whole reason for this was emergency medical purposes (for example a neurosurgeon getting called in on a trauma at 4am so the plate allows the physician to park in specialized spots around the hospital)

 

[ChemMed]

this is what i came up with a millisecond after i read, "use your imagination."

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images...38416612400/Vin-Diesel-as-Dom-Toretto-001.jpg

Dom Toretto. Fail. 😡

Not quite what I was thinking, but to each their own.

 

[GoLytely]

Worth mentioning: If you guys ever DO (haha...) change your degree letters to something closer to MD, the difference in competitiveness will vanish almost overnight. Standards for DO admission will rise and approximate those for MD schools. There will no longer be an opportunity in the US for students who just miss the criteria for admission.

Anyway....do we really need a bunch of new allopathic medical schools? In the words of Mitch Hedberg, "somebody needs to tell the turkeys - man, just be yourselves!!"

 

[coolwater88]

Can DO's practice in india?

Also, what are some of the 'good ranked' DO schools in US?


thanks🙂

 

[VCU07]

Worth mentioning: If you guys ever DO (haha...) change your degree letters to something closer to MD, the difference in competitiveness will vanish almost overnight. Standards for DO admission will rise and approximate those for MD schools. There will no longer be an opportunity in the US for students who just miss the criteria for admission.

Anyway....do we really need a bunch of new allopathic medical schools? In the words of Mitch Hedberg, "somebody needs to tell the turkeys - man, just be yourselves!!"

Your post makes the assumption that DO applicants are those that were unable to get into an allopathic school....I don't quite buy this sorry.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Actually, premed, I've spent 2 full years now in a hospital, and have never seen a DO with an MD anywhere on their person and/or ID badge. Good to know you'll be secretly praying they screw yours up... 👎

Maybe my school has masterful ID-printing employees, apparently a rare commodity. They actually put different names on each, too, impressive as that sounds.

All sarcasm aside, I just want DOs to be happy with their degrees so that little threads like this one don't distract me from my regular acknowledgment of them as capable, well-trained physicians equal to MDs.

I've seen it. The DO I shadowed had an MD nametag and a DO on his coat. The business card for his clinic listed him as an MD but the sign on the door showed him as being a DO.

Also, your snarky comments are completely at odds with the spirit of your last paragraph.

 

[JaggerPlate]

I've seen it. The DO I shadowed had an MD nametag and a DO on his coat. The business card for his clinic listed him as an MD but the sign on the door showed him as being a DO.

Also, your snarky comments are completely at odds with the spirit of your last paragraph.

Probably brought this up before ... but I worked in an ER for two years and every single DO (there were quite a few, including the head of the department) had DO on their scrubs, coat, etc, but MD on their ID. It's just what hospitals do.

 

[homeboysalute]

They are all vanity plates, and serve that sole purpose

 

[OxfordDO]

I would be pissed if the D.O. degree were changed and we'd have to start all over to explain a degree with no history.

 

[tkyle56]

I don't know why people, mostly DOs, make such a big deal about there being two degrees. I was accepted by an MD school and decided that I would rather go to the DO school that I was also accepted by. My reason was that the MD school was still very new and I would have been in the third graduating class, but the DO school is much more established, has much better rotations and residencies, has more research, and better academics. I am sure the MD school that accepted me will bypass the DO school in research but it won't be happening while I am there. I also choose the DO school because I know I will have more opportunities for residency positions since I can compete for both DO and MD residency slots and neither MD nor foreign educated physicians can apply for DO residencies. I didn't choose the DO school because of OMM, I do not have enough OMM experience to decide what medical school I want to go to based on that, I made my decision between the two school based on which I believe would train me to be the best physician. There were MD schools that I didn't get into that if I would have been accepted I would have choose them over the DO school.

As far as the hospitals not distinguishing between the two, that is completely ridiculous. If you are an MD you should be distinguished as one, and if you are a DO you should be distinguished as a DO. I would be upset with my hospital if I was a DO and they gave me a badge that said I was an MD. This isn't because I think I am better than my MD colleagues, it's simply because I didn't earn a MD degree, I earned a DO degree and calling myself an MD would be misleading. The people who don't care about the hospital mis-identifying them either don't care about slightly misleading people or really want to be an MD and finally have an excuse to act like they are. Personally I would either request to be correctly identified as a DO or I would just white out the MD and use a sharpie to wright DO. Again this is not out of malice towards MD's, it simply is correcting a clerical error.

 

[christina30]

I don't know why people, mostly DOs, make such a big deal about there being two degrees. I was accepted by an MD school and decided that I would rather go to the DO school that I was also accepted by. My reason was that the MD school was still very new and I would have been in the third graduating class, but the DO school is much more established, has much better rotations and residencies, has more research, and better academics. I am sure the MD school that accepted me will bypass the DO school in research but it won't be happening while I am there. I also choose the DO school because I know I will have more opportunities for residency positions since I can compete for both DO and MD residency slots and neither MD nor foreign educated physicians can apply for DO residencies. I didn't choose the DO school because of OMM, I do not have enough OMM experience to decide what medical school I want to go to based on that, I made my decision between the two school based on which I believe would train me to be the best physician. There were MD schools that I didn't get into that if I would have been accepted I would have choose them over the DO school.

As far as the hospitals not distinguishing between the two, that is completely ridiculous. If you are an MD you should be distinguished as one, and if you are a DO you should be distinguished as a DO. I would be upset with my hospital if I was a DO and they gave me a badge that said I was an MD. This isn't because I think I am better than my MD colleagues, it's simply because I didn't earn a MD degree, I earned a DO degree and calling myself an MD would be misleading. The people who don't care about the hospital mis-identifying them either don't care about slightly misleading people or really want to be an MD and finally have an excuse to act like they are. Personally I would either request to be correctly identified as a DO or I would just white out the MD and use a sharpie to wright DO. Again this is not out of malice towards MD's, it simply is correcting a clerical error.

No, we just understand that in smaller community hospitals, they have more important things to spend money on than a new ID badge that says DO. It's a time where hospitals in a lot of areas are hanging by a thread, financially, and can barely make it by (I live in an already underserved area where 4+hospitals have closed in the past year or 2) - so I could care less about what my badge says.

 

[klmnop]

These are all the "profession" plates that NY offers:

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/profpl8.htm

We even have plates for acupuncturists and hypnotherapists! God knows that's necessary.

i like the plate that says OD...

 

[Dissected]

No, we just understand that in smaller community hospitals, they have more important things to spend money on than a new ID badge that says DO. It's a time where hospitals in a lot of areas are hanging by a thread, financially, and can barely make it by (I live in an already underserved area where 4+hospitals have closed in the past year or 2) - so I could care less about what my badge says.

ehhh, I have a hard time believing that it costs more to change the letters 'MD' to 'DO', especially if you are printing a new badge for a doc that gets hired on. Seems more like cookie cutter obliviousness to me. I wouldn't be that angry about it. It would feel a little weird to wear a badge that said MD on it though...