DO neurology internship...

[Yoyomama88]

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I tried reading some of the older posts explaining the issues with a DO doing an allopathic residency, but having to do an extra internship in order to board certified?

Something along those lines...I'm a pre-med, and I have no idea what an internship is? How long does it take, pay, etc?

But you can skip the internship by doing a dually accredited residency?

I realize that as a DO you can apply to osteopathic residencies, I have look at the few that are around, and they aren't really in places I see myself settling down. So Im fairly certain I will apply to allopathic residencies.

Can someone in laymans terms please explain what things I will have to consider. Thank you.

 

[PhakeDoc]

since you said you were pre-med and had no idea what an internship is, I'd suggest reading the wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residency_(medicine) and also reading the link for internship and the external links provided, including stuff for osteopaths. That should get you started.

 

[HarveyCushing]

I tried reading some of the older posts explaining the issues with a DO doing an allopathic residency, but having to do an extra internship in order to board certified?

Something along those lines...I'm a pre-med, and I have no idea what an internship is? How long does it take, pay, etc?

But you can skip the internship by doing a dually accredited residency?

I realize that as a DO you can apply to osteopathic residencies, I have look at the few that are around, and they aren't really in places I see myself settling down. So Im fairly certain I will apply to allopathic residencies.

Can someone in laymans terms please explain what things I will have to consider. Thank you.

No offense, but you are way over your head at the moment. Eventually someone will mention this so I might as well do it. First focus on getting good grades in college and a good score on the MCAT. Get into the best/ cheapest medical school and the one that you feel is the best fit for you. Do well your first two years and do well on boards. Then work your butt off during MSIII and then worry about your internship/residency. To worry about the internship as a pre-med is a waste of time to be honest. Rules could very well change by the time they would affect you. Also you don't know what field of medicine you will be going into. Focus on what is immediately ahead of you, and eventually you will get to the point where you should be asking these questions. Good luck.

 

[Yoyomama88]

applying to medical schools now...


OK so basically, the internship year is required for a student who has graduated medical school to be able to practice "general medicine"...however you must enter residency to become a specialized physician. There is NO internship year with allopathic residencies.

AOA still requires the internship year, so therefore if you do an allopathic residency that is NOT dually accredited by both ACGME and AOA, then you have to do the extra 1 year?

If you do an ACGME residency, then you can also ask for approval from AOA? This does not always happen?

If you do the ACGME residency, and cannot get approval or a dual certification, then where do you have to do the internship? whats the pay like? Most of the time it's a year?

 

[PhakeDoc]

There is NO internship year with allopathic residencies.


If you do the ACGME residency, and cannot get approval or a dual certification, then where do you have to do the internship? whats the pay like? Most of the time it's a year?

That's incorrect. You do an internship with allopathic. As HarveyCushing states, at this point in time, you should thing about med school itself and NOT think about specialty, etc. - that is TOO far down the road to think specifics. Heck, most people (including myself who thought they knew for the previous 10 years what area to go in to) changed their plans. As far as salaries, go to your favorite residency program and look there - many do state salaries based on PGY year. There's a time to worry about this stuff...now is not that time. Worry about admission and doing well during basic science years and seeing which courses you enjoy.

 

[monspubis]

.

 

[JDPhD]

Go to an MD school if you can.

That's a foolish thing to say. Are MD's better trained? Do they make more money? What specific advantages do MD's have in the actual practice of medicine that are unavailable to DO's? Let me help you out -- no, no, and none.

 

[medsRus]

Same can be said for NPs. LOL!

 

[Yoyomama88]

what is the reasoning for going MD over DO...Im interested in a brain related specialty, most likely neurology or psychiatry....

The thing is Im very interested in academic medicine, and I want to shoot for a top residency program. It seems that bias still exists at the top which is disheartening. I think an osteopathic education would be great...I just want all the doors open for residency...I'm not sure if that will be the case with a DO.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I disagree with all the responses here.

You need to research this BEFORE you take a medical school acceptance, start school, and then decide you don't want to be a DO after all.

But if you're applying to med schools now, then you should have already done this research.

For DO schools, you do NOT have to do an extra internship. Whether you do an MD or DO residency, the first year is an internship. It's either in Medicine or Surgery or a TRI which is a traditional rotating internship. Other fields may have their own internship that goes with it, but make no mistake that ALL residencies have an internship included with it.

Additionally, there are five states in the DO world -- Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and one more I can't remember -- that require the internship meet certain criteria if it's an MD residency before they will license you as a DO. If you do a DO residency, the criteria is automatically met. If you do an MD residency, you need to get a waiver through the AOA, which you can get in 99% of cases according to the residency forum on SDN.

 

[rgerwin]

Not that there needs ot be another MD vs DO debate, but i wanted to share my most recent thoughts b/c they seem relevant. Nothing is black and white. People who try to make it that way don't know what they are talking about. A DO degree can be better for some pursuits, worse for others, and neutral for others. Anything primary care and the degree on paper is,on average, irrelevant and you might find advantages in your training. Competitive specialities are just that, competitive. Those Allopathic residencies will naturally go more to MD students. It's the stuff that falls in the middle that is the real question, at least for me. Specifically, this relates to whether I bother even taking the USMLE. Sometimes you really should.

 

[PhakeDoc]

... A DO degree can be better for some pursuits, worse for others, and neutral for others. Anything primary care and the degree on paper is,on average, irrelevant and you might find advantages in your training. Competitive specialities are just that, competitive. Those Allopathic residencies will naturally go more to MD students. ....

That I think is the real rub - lots of folks I knew during first year thought they wanted to do primary care coming in to med school and by their fourth years, wanted to go in to specialties and vice versa. It's just hard to know ahead of time.

 

[Amos]

what is the reasoning for going MD over DO...Im interested in a brain related specialty, most likely neurology or psychiatry....

The thing is Im very interested in academic medicine, and I want to shoot for a top residency program. It seems that bias still exists at the top which is disheartening. I think an osteopathic education would be great...I just want all the doors open for residency...I'm not sure if that will be the case with a DO.

It depends how sure you are that you might want to be in academics. If you are thinking about it, then all the arguments about "is a DO as good as MD for patient care" are less relevant, since you need to be thinking about career trajectory in addition to the quality of your clinical training.

Thus, what I have written below is based on: (1) You are still early in your career, (2) you want to do academics.

You can easily be a good clinical neurologist or psychiatrist with a DO, but it is not the preferred route for someone interested in academics. Even taking into account the number of total MDs and DOs, many, many, many, many more physicians in academics have MDs. Nothing wrong with taking the path less traveled, but you increase your chances of success by following the road others have had the most success with.

Also, if you change your mind and decide to apply to a more competitive specialty (especially those involving surgery) you will also have a very tough go of things without an MD. Impossible....nope, nothing is. But difficult. In addition, as it stands now, it will be harder to match at the "best" neuro academic residency programs unless you also have a PhD, JD, or other advanced degree in addition to a DO. Notice that I said harder, not impossible. There will still be good options with a DO, but you mentioned you were looking at "top places" down the road. In terms of bias, I think it varies. In private practice I don't think it's a huge deal, except maybe on the coasts. In academics some places I think are extremely biased against DOs, some have a moderate bias but still take DO residents, whereas other places don't care very much.

In addition (and this is where I am less knowledgeable), MD schools, especially in-state public schools, tend to be much cheaper than DO schools. Debt is a huge deal if you want to do academics since you will be making less than in private practice.

I an unfamiliar with the entire DO curriculum, but several residents I have talked have mentioned "that we learn basically the same thing you guys do." Thus, I am not sure that what you learn in a DO vs. MD school will vary much. What will vary is how easy it is to take the next step after medical school.

That's what this boils down to. What degree is a better step for you coming out of medical school?