Belfagor said:
I think the concept of this thread is lame. I'm normally a calm observer, but I think that threads are like these are part of the reason I would second guess my desire to attend osteopathic school and go on to become an osteopathic physician. Why the need for validation? Who cares what D.O. was on TV? I find it apalling that there were medical students sending post cards to writers to get more D.O.'s on television. Osteopathic physicians aren't a novelty, they are medical doctors. They don't need to be gratuitously worked in to television shows to prove to the public that they are valid practitioners.
Never once have I heard someone badmouth an osteopath in real life. In conversations (medical or otherwise), I've heard people mention the fact that there are two licensed medical degrees in the U.S., to which the unitiated party responded "Oh, Ok". No one cares. No ones cares about the initials behind a doctor's name except for anal premeds who only want to help people if the letters behind their name look great embossed on a business card. By constantly trying to shove DO's into the television spotlight, its sending the message both inside and outside of the community that it's necessary to pay attention to our initials instead of our aptitude.
If the Osteopathic community wants to end "stigma" problems then they'll stop writing letters to the screen hacks at Grey's Anatomy, and start working on post graduate education that doesn't suck (flame on, you know it's the biggest problem they have). Shut up and provide the awesome medical care that you are capable of doing, and people will respect you for that. People don't faint in awe because Jimmy Fallon's uncle is a D.O, but they appreciate physicians when they do their job.
As I said before, it's stuff like this that makes me not want to join the Osteopathic community. I want to join an organization that's proud of what they do internally, not a collection of individuals who reach for a box of tissues and a Dashboard Confessionals CD when they learn that the plastic surgeons on Doctor 90210 don't have the right initials.
i think its cool because most of my family watches tv religiously so when they see a DO on there, then they think, hmm, espbeliver wasnt just pulling my leg... it may not make rational sense to you, but to them tv does not lie.
why the need for validation? because. ask anyone in my family a few months ago what a DO what, and you would get a very puzzeled look. these are country bumpkins that think MDs are god, growing grass is a cool show, and voted for bush. way right wing conservatives that barely made it out of high school. i love them dearly, but they are very stuck in their ways and the doctors near them are ALL the older MDs who then sometimes bad mouth DOs.
if you say you have never gotten any kind of negative feedback on going to a DO school, then id have to belive you either live in a bubble or are lieing. ive gotten it from family, professors, friends, students, and the family doc. sigh. to be truthful much of it was not that negative, but some of it was, and there is a general ignorance that exists.
i think this bias is slowly errodeing but i think its mostly through the publicized actions of some prominent DOs that this has occured. if you disagree that is fine, but that my opinion, so to see a growing number of DOs in mainstream spotlight is encouraging to me.
further, if simple threads like these make you second guess becoming a DO, then id suggest you quit now and save yourself the heartache because they are not anywhere near stopping and again, you must be living in a bubble.
let me ask a question - why did you chose to become a DO to begin with?? i chose because the caliber of student that typically goes is not the gunner type which provides for a more supportive learning environment. i want to become a fp and many of the DO schools are getting top marks with fp residencies, plus knowledge of omm. wether you believe a differnt philosophy exists or different teaching style (actually the DO school i wish to attend has a unique teaching style that is actually performing phenominally) is not to me the hallmark of a good school but rather the results in residency and testing, at least in my eyes.
back to philosophy, though i do think that a number of yrs ago a different philosophy existed where DOs attempted to treat the person and the MDs treated the symptoms. today i think that different is errodeing, as are many of the other differences.
anyways im not saying to everyone to go out and write to get more DOs on tv, but why not be happy when it happens?
i think im rambling now... sorry
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