DO schools related question

I once talked to a DO med student they said that their specific school laid it on thick and tried to convince you to go into primary care, but this person is an anesthesia resident now. He said you can still do anything you want.

 

Many DO's in the past have gone into primary care (family practice, pediatrics, etc.) and this is one reason people pursue osteopathic medicine, because of its focus on primary care. Thus, many osteopathic medical schools are known for producing primary care physicians.

While many still go into primary care, there is an upward trend to pursue other specialties as osteopathic medicine becomes more and more recognized by the public.

In short, I wouldn't be discouraged from applying to a school based on their advertising primary care residency stats, even if you wanted to go into a more focused specialty.

 

It means that a high proportion of their graduates go into Primary Care, not the specialites.

I am currently looking at DO schools to apply to and I was wondering what it means when a school advertises they provide a high amount of primary care residents.


I think it's a mix of both. Many of my students are very idealistic and altruistic. Keep in mind that many students also do have a clue as to which specialty they will go into when they start their clinical years.


Do you think students interested in pursuing primary care gravitate to these schools or do the schools encourage primary care residencies over other specialties to keep the recognition?


Not at all! We have grads in pretty much every specialty, except the area I teach in!

I was just wondering if it is more difficult to land a residency other than primary care in schools such as these?

 

It is also a matter of PR. For example, technically a state-supported medical school exists to support a public policy, such as expanding primary care access. They do that at TCOM with a special rural scholarship program funded by the state. Other students are free to do whatever. About half end up in specialties.

 

Also lets not overlook that vanilla "internal medicine" is (firstly) a primary care specialty and (secondly) anything but vanilla since the motherload of fellowships comes out of internal medicine.

There is no shame in choosing IM and even less shame in following up with a fellowship in the future.

 

Excellent point!