Originally posted by teres minor
They might be fed up with OMT. (But I just look at it as like going to a religious school. It may require a bit of faith, but as long as the rest of the education is there, it?s usually not harmful. And maybe it helps develop your critical thinking....)
Interesting way of looking it.....
They might not like the school or climate or something personal. There are tiring political issues, too, with more fanatic DOs pushing their agenda, but you have stuff like that everywhere.
Off-shore med schools also have lots of politics behind it, in trying to lobby for more FMG residency spots....
And all the DO propaganda, the whole thing about the DO being the premier alternative to a regular US medical school, so good it?s better than a US medical school. Doesn?t wash.
If DO's really believe that's true, then so be it. I, as an allopathic med student, have not problem with DO's thinking that their training is MD + more (i.e. OMT and whole patient way of healing). I have my hands full with diagnosis, treatments, drugs, imaging modalities, etc. I don't see how anybody has time to learn OMT on top of all those.
There are drawbacks. There?s the required internship year before you can start a residency,
I don't understand what you mean. Some states don't allow you to switch to DO residency from allopathic residency unless you have done DO "internship." But nobody has a problem with a DO who goes through allopathic internship + residency. Is this what you are referring to?
there?s the fact that there are more DO grads than DO residencies, and DO residencies, in general, aren?t considered as good as allopathic residencies. Though there are some very good DO residencies.
That's alright. Plenty of DO's take allopathic residencies away from FMG MD's from the Carribean. I don't see a problem with that.
As far as getting an allo residency, there are programs that don?t allow DO?s, or have unofficial DO quotas. You never see an allopathic program filling up with DOs. And I've seen or heard of more than a few IMGs (and DOs) doing well in specialties. So I don't think DOs are at some clear mega advantage over people coming from good foreign schools like the two mentioned. It all has much more to do with the individual.
Some programs don't allow Carribean FMG's or have unofficial Carribean FMG quotas. You gotta separate Carribean FMG's who are American citizens from FMG's from other countries who are originical citizens of those countries. In many countries, cream of the crop get into their med schools. However, you will be hard pressed to argue that cream of the American crop go to Carribean MD schools. Several top residency programs might consider FMG's from, say, Pakistan, India, England, etc. but don't even look at FMG's from Ross, SGU, etc.
And if you do try for an allopathic residency, and also take the USMLE Step 1, well, DO pass rates on Step 1 are kind of low. Lower than the better foreign schools. I only heard about this recently, so I?m not sure what?s causing it. Yes, we do take the same courses, and no, OMT isn't screwing us up.
I will be interested to known FMG passing rates from SGU and Ross specifically (including people who fail the first couple times). Plus, in DO schools, EVERYONE eventually gets to take the USMLE, but at SGU and Ross, they weed out 30+% of people, so you won't even get to take USMLE. I think I would prefer not to take that chance and go for the sure thing.
And the whole stigma thing is overrated anyways. Beyond a minority of residency programs, very very very few people and doctors care who?s a DO or MD, or IMG for that matter. Only Frasier and Niels Crane 🙂 . And I'm not sure I'd want them as patients, anyway.
Agree. that's why I still think that DO is a better deal than Carribean MD.
Bottom line: getting into medical school is basically hard, but getting into a residency is basically easy.
Correction. Going to DO = getting an American residency easily. Going to Carribean MD = trying to pass and not get weeded out.
