DO to MD

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miler

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Just out of curiousity, has anyone ever hear of someone becoming a DO and then going on to become a MD? What all is involved. Do they have to take the entire MD program or is there an abbreviated program they could try and do.
Thanks for any input.
 
Why on earth would someone do that? Then they would have 2 medical degrees. For what purpose? I have heard of people becoming DOs and then getting an MD residency. Is that what you are thinking about?
 
Why does anyone do anything? I think it would be interesting to have the education/viewpoints of both DO and MD ways of thinking.
I actually didn't know you could - or know the difference of attaining a DO degree and then doing a MD residency. Very interesting.
 
I think the OP is referring to someone in DO school transferring to an MD school. In that case, you would not have two degrees. You would have whatever degree you graduated with- in this case, an MD. If you want two degrees, you'd have to do both since there are no dual MD/DO programs(which would be dumb), unlike MD/PhD or DO/PhD.
I've heard of people transferring DO-DO schools, but not DO-MD. I vaguely recall a thread on this topic( maybe I should search 😀 ).
I imagine it's possible- just so long as the school you want to transfer to goes along. It's hard enough to transer from DO-DO or MD-MD the way it is. But, anything's possible I guess.
Plus, if you did it between MSII and III you would have learned all of the OMM anyway- aside from additional instruction that may happen during a clinical rotation.

Ehh,

Dr_sax

Edit: I forgot!!! You can get a DO, fly down to the Caribbean and apparently get an MD handed to you for a fee. I had almost forgotten about that idiotic thread. :laugh:
 
Or...you could get an MD at an offshore school and apply to NYCOM's special DO program for foreign med graduates and become an MD/DO.

Anyway, as I understand it, you cannot transfer from a DO school to an MD school or vice versa. If my memory serves, there is one or two MD schools that will consider you if you want to transfer from a DO school, but no DO school will consider transfers from an MD school (for obvious reasons...OMT).

Besides, getting both an MD and a DO is silly. This thread reminds me of another thread where an MD graduate was asking if he could just function as a PA instead of an MD because he liked what PA's did more than what MD's did (yes, I'm also scratching my head on that one).
 
First of all, the "training styles" for DOs and MDs is not all that different. In a DO school there are osteopathic principles which are stressed throughout the education, but when you think logically about these principles, they are not "osteopathic minded"...they are really principles that make a good physician.

Look at the patient as a whole.

Parts of the body are interconnected.

When there is something wrong in one part of the body, other parts of the body can be effected.

If the body is in 'perfect' working order, there should not be disease.

We can maintain and promote health by maintaining the bodys natural homeostasis and natural working order.

These are not things that only DOs practice, believe, or see when they look at a patient. Ask most any physician if they feel these things to be true and I bet you they would agree.

As far as the MD and DO degrees, I really dont see the point. There are cases where MDs from other countries have obtained a US DO degree (NYCOM program, for example) and now practice here. There are cases where DOs can literally buy an MD degree from offshore medical schools, but the degree confers you no additional benefits. From those I have talked to, this 'on paper MD degree' is, more often than not, looked down upon in the medical community. Lay persons may not care nor know what is means, but surely you tell an educated person you went to a DO school then got your MD degree by taking online courses at XYZ Carib med school...well, you fill in the blanks.

So why have both degrees? If you feel you are inadequate with the letters behind your name. If you want to put 'MD' on a sign outside your office. If you have the money to spend on it. Other than that, I cant think of a good reason.
 
Well, I had never heard of a DO-to-MD transfer until one of my classmates did it! At the end of our 2nd year at OUCOM, on my classmates transferred to MCO. Our entire class was in shock as nobody thought this was really even possible.

Apparently, she put in her transfer application during Jan of her 2nd year with Wright State and MCO. She took the USMLE 1, and interviewed at both schools. One of the schools (I think it was Wright State) actually had her perfrom an H&P on a simulated patient in front of a panel.

No one really knows why she transferred. Many in our class were, quite frankly, really pissed about it and passing all sorts of judgment on why she did it.

My reaction was, "Good for her." I don't care why she did it; she obviously had her reasons, and that's good enough for me.

She ended up completing our entire curriculum for the 1st two years at OUCOM, and trasferred over the summer and immediately started clinicals at MCO.
 
I had a doctor (D.O.) tell me about a class mate of her's who did the first two years ( I think, may have just been MS-I) of osteopath med. w/ her and then bascially dropped out and started over at an allopath medical school down the road. He wanted to be a MD b/c his dad was. Hope it was worth it for him.
 
I think it was 1961 in CA and all you needed was $50... oh better check those OMM history notes.. DOH
 
It was $65....man, Dr. Evans would be so disappointed in you!!!!

:laugh:

Dr_sax
 
lol, and to think I got a 96 on last weeks written exam.. LOLOLOLOL!

Nah, trust me, by the end of the semester I'll have looked over those notes so many times it'll be ingrained permanently. For now, its short term memory, here I come!:laugh: 🙄 😛
 
Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
lol, and to think I got a 96 on last weeks written exam..
Click to expand...

Well...arent YOU so friggin smart!


😉
 
nah, they don't tell us the mean but I bet it was in the 90's, not much to studying for that last one except reading through the notes once or twice. I think that one was a gimme or something, anatomy is a whooooole different story, ugh
 
Originally posted by H0mersimps0n
lol, and to think I got a 96 on last weeks written exam.. LOLOLOLOL!

Nah, trust me, by the end of the semester I'll have looked over those notes so many times it'll be ingrained permanently. For now, its short term memory, here I come!:laugh: 🙄 😛
Click to expand...

Yeah, you will become a robot and be able to recite all the history stuff. Case in point, I still remember:
- flung the banner June 22, 1874
- meningitis killed 3 of Still's children
- 1910 - Flexner Report
- 1960-61 - DO's in California could pay $65 to become an MD
- 1892 - first DO school opened
- 1917 - AT Still died
- Hippocrates - treat the person, not the disease
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.

I wish there was a way I could throw this information out of my brain and remember more information on things that my attendings have pimped me on and I haven't known... +pissed+

:laugh:
 
the walking stick and the high-topped boots to ward off snakes....

hee hee.

so nice to know we were not the only ones memorizing such freaky facts about our "cult" leader. 🙂

oh yeah, and even freakier--he died on his treatment table. YIIIIKES!
 
Originally posted by sophiejane
oh yeah, and even freakier--he died on his treatment table. YIIIIKES!
Click to expand...

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

I don't remember them telling us that! That is freaky.
 
I believe DO's take an Osteopathic Oath that is sort of a reworded version of the Hippocratic Oath.

Not sure if it includes a voodoo chant 😛
 
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