Originally posted by [email protected]
DAPLAYA:
This website is a testament to the overwhelming support that Osteopathic Med. receives in the United States.
Yes it is. And, I think that that's wonderful. Too many insecure people, such as the "kid", fail to realize that we are not in competition with one another - we are all working towards the same goal: namely to help patients. Whatever path brings us there is fine, as long as it is done with competence and compassion.
Originally posted by [email protected]
Granted that the pre-medical community remains belligerent and misinformed on several issues; but Osteo. colleges continue to thrive and gather increasingly positive recognition from M.D. Residency programs, and major Allo. organizations. There are qualified applicants voluntarily choosing state D.O. schools over M.D. schools based on secondary factors after noticing that either school would offer accredited, respectable med. education.
I partially disagree. I think that many, but not all, pre-med students and supposed "advisors" just don't have all the facts on Osteopathy. But, the real issue and bigger part of the problem is the AMA disallowing additional allopathic schools to be opened in the U.S. It's not that Osteopaths are inferior (or necessarily cast in that light), it has to do with specializing and subspecializing - it is assumed and indeed almost implied that Osteopaths and Carib grads will go into primary care positions, where there is an incredible shortage of physicians across the board. However, historically IMGs have specialized at the same rate as other U.S. trained physicians. And, now that the Osteopath and Allopath specialty boards are merging, many more Osteopaths are choosing to continue on and sub-specialize following their residencies. The "corrective measures" the AMA is attempting are not working, per se, and despite supposed cuts in the number of foreign residency positions in the U.S. that have been planned, they were actually up 531% by the end of the 1990's.
I agree with the sentiment, though, that the bulk of the bad information (although it's not as much as it used to be) concerning D.O. (and Carib grads, for that matter) occurs by "know-it-all" (who really know very little) people such as the "kid" on forums like these. Often, when working side-by-side with IMGs from the Caribbean and D.O.s, I think a lot of USMGs are humbled and surprised when their non-U.S. trained counterparts know as much and are as well-trained as they have been to that point. Some are better, some are worse, clearly. But, that's true for everyone, even a student who goes to, say, Howard and excels when working with a Hopkins grad who might have just scraped by. (In my direct experience, it was working with a Tampico, MX grad along side a Georgetown and University of Georgia grads. The "IMG" was excellent. I wouldn't take my gerbil to either of the other two)
Originally posted by [email protected]
The Caribbean graduates that I've encountered have shared information about their schools that illustrate discouraging issues:
Okay, let's examine them one by one...
Originally posted by [email protected]
I've been told that the coursework is basic and general--likened to a long board-exam review curriculum;
Not true, at least in my case. During my past semester, we were taught and tested on conducting a complete physical exam. This represented a large portion of our final grade for the course. Likewise, we studied and were also tested on, during a course, reading and interpreting 12-lead ECGs. Furthermore, I found our Pharmacology course questions as part of the curriculum to be far more difficult and comprehensive than the "shelf" exam.
Originally posted by [email protected]
there are problems in scheduling required clerkships during the senior years for Caribbean students,
This may be true to an extent, but at least with Ross (which has the most U.S. affiliations of any Carib school) this problem has all but been resolved. Likewise, we are allowed to do visiting clerkships at U.S. medical schools during fourth year. The course grade issued by the school transfers back to Ross. Many students opt for this during electives.
Additionally, there are no breaks during the clerkship years. Once a clerkship is completed, you move to the next one. This occurs year round (i.e., there is no summer or mid-semester break). This schedule allows one flexibility to, for example, utilize a self-scheduled, six-week break to study for and take Step II.
Originally posted by [email protected]
i.e., some students necessarily have to stretch 2 years of clerkships into 3 due to lack of available hospital positions when required.
Again, this may happen, but some students who start in the December class and go straight through can actually make the match and graduate in three-and-a-half years. This happens frequently.
Originally posted by [email protected]
The U.S. initiative to continue to limit the number of foreign med. graduates entering american residency programs is a further barrier--not to mention the bias that residency directors regard offshore graduates as less-qualified applicants.
As stated above, the data just does not corroborate this. Nonetheless, if such a plan is ultimately instituted, it will affect foreign, non-citizen physicians first who cannot get a J-1 visa. The last group of people affected will be U.S. citizen foreign graduates, provided (of course) that they still can pass their licensure exams. And, with the continued forecasted physician shortages in the U.S. over the next twenty years, I seriously doubt that this will happen. Why do you think the AMA has tolerated allowing the M.D. and D.O. boards to merge as well as opening 5 or so new Osteopathy schools in the last eight years? Again, the push is to get physicians into primary care. It is almost expected of the graduating D.O.'s and IMG M.D.'s that they will go that route in their training.
As far as the perception of offshore grads being "less-qualified", I think this has more to do with PD's choosing students from U.S. schools because the U.S. students are less willing to go to a program that has IMGs due to their own perception biases. They perceive their potential IMG counterparts to be less-qualified, and not necessarily the PD's themselves who feel this way... and the requisite feeling, either consciously or subconsciously, that doing a residency alongside of IMGs will negatively reflect on them. How sad. That's why I continuously ask people to check their sources and really reflect on why they feel a certain way about an issue: is it because it's been what they've been told and haven't questioned it, or is it because it is actually based on fact? More often than not it's the former as opposed to the latter.
Originally posted by [email protected]
Good luck to you. By the way: this thread has grown to be one of the most disappointing and derogatory threads that I've browsed on this network. Moderator, please do your job.
If that is directed to me, thank you. But, it has less to do with luck and more to do with hard work and willingess to tolerate the hatred, bias, misunderstanding, and epithets of such people as the "kid". I know I will succeed; there's no doubt in my mind.
(P.S. I can link data to support all of the above assertions, if necessary.)