DO rotations vs MD rotations

[RopingDoc]

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I am currently in the application cycle and have applied to both MD and DO schools. After visiting with an MD, he raised the concern that DO rotations are probably lower quality and less organized around learning for the students. Is this true/relevant? What are the differences between attending an MD school with teaching hospital rotations vs a DO school with "community" rotations where the student simply joins a clinic etc? Do DO students get told to "sit in the corner and watch" as this MD suspects? Interested in hearing the pros/cons for both sides. I am interested in neurology, internal med, and emergency medicine at this point.


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[Robotfishbrain]

The older the medical school, the more established it tends to be in it's curriculum and rotations, and therefore more experience and time to learn from their mistakes. DO schools tend to be newer, and therefore hadn't had time to learn from their mistakes and establish their program yet. That's about as far as it goes. If you go to a DO school that's been around for a long time (2+ decades) then I would say there would be little noticeable difference, besides maybe geography.

 

[Goro]

This is an issue with clinical education at DO schools. It gives the profession a bad name in the eyes of some PDs. Agree that the more established school have better rotation sites than the newer ones. Indeed, this is why I can't recommend WCU.

If you hang out on the Allo forum, you'll find that this is an issue with a few MD schools as well!

This just illustrates that interviewees at DO schools should always inquire as the the type and quality of 3rd and 4th year rotations.

I am currently in the application cycle and have applied to both MD and DO schools. After visiting with an MD, he raised the concern that DO rotations are probably lower quality and less organized around learning for the students. Is this true/relevant? What are the differences between attending an MD school with teaching hospital rotations vs a DO school with "community" rotations where the student simply joins a clinic etc? Do DO students get told to "sit in the corner and watch" as this MD suspects? Interested in hearing the pros/cons for both sides. I am interested in neurology, internal med, and emergency medicine at this point.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

The older the medical school, the more established it tends to be in it's curriculum and rotations, and therefore more experience and time to learn from their mistakes. DO schools tend to be newer, and therefore hadn't had time to learn from their mistakes and establish their program yet. That's about as far as it goes. If you go to a DO school that's been around for a long time (2+ decades) then I would say there would be little noticeable difference, besides maybe geography.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yes MD rotations > than DO rotations in general. That's a fact. I will say however that I know quite a few DO students and none of them have rotated in a clinic for a whole rotation. An interesting tidbit is that I would say DO students actually get to do more than MD students on rotations. That isn't the issue, the issue is that you aren't prepared all that well for audition rotations and intern year sometimes because of lack of rotating with resident teams.

 

[AlteredScale]

Closing since cross posted in pre-allo.