Good Ole fashioned DO discrimination

[JohnUC33]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Well, I'm not in medical school yet, and I just experienced my first taste of DO discrimination today. I was at work (in the hospital), and me and a nurse were discussing manipulations and chiropractors. He said that he does not believe in manipulations. I said well, even if you don't believe in manipulations, you can still see a DO since they receive the same training as MD's. He said that DO training is not equal to MD training for DO's are trained in preventive medicine (which they are). He said that MD's are trained to "figure things out" (implying that DO's aren't trained that way).

Anyways, I went on to point out that one of the best ER doctors in our hospital is a DO (something he didn't know beforehand). I said something to effect that he is a good example of the difference in training because this DO spends a great deal of time with every patient examing and talking to them. To this he said that this DO spends so much time with patients because he doesn't know whats wrong with the patients. He said this DO sometimes "guesses" as to whats wrong with the patient.

I also went on to point another DO employed by the hospital who is a partner of the chief of staff (an well-respected MD in town). To this he said that he is not "impressed" with this DO. I was so hopping mad, but I gave up because there was no way of arguing with him. To this nurse's credit, he is not idiot. He has a master's degree in nursing and has been working for 10+ years as a nurse. He said this brother-in-law is a DO, so maybe that is why he is turned off to the profession.

Oh well, I guess I have to get used to some people having a prejudice against DO's. I just wanted to share that lovely story with you all.

 

[bustbones26]

Well, I'm not in medical school yet, and I just experienced my first taste of DO discrimination today. I was at work (in the hospital), and me and a nurse were discussing manipulations and chiropractors. He said that he does not believe in manipulations. I said well, even if you don't believe in manipulations, you can still see a DO since they receive the same training as MD's. He said that DO training is not equal to MD training for DO's are trained in preventive medicine (which they are). He said that MD's are trained to "figure things out" (implying that DO's aren't trained that way).

Anyways, I went on to point out that one of the best ER doctors in our hospital is a DO (something he didn't know beforehand). I said something to effect that he is a good example of the difference in training because this DO spends a great deal of time with every patient examing and talking to them. To this he said that this DO spends so much time with patients because he doesn't know whats wrong with the patients. He said this DO sometimes "guesses" as to whats wrong with the patient.

I also went on to point another DO employed by the hospital who is a partner of the chief of staff (an well-respected MD in town). To this he said that he is not "impressed" with this DO. I was so hopping mad, but I gave up because there was no way of arguing with him. To this nurse's credit, he is not idiot. He has a master's degree in nursing and has been working for 10+ years as a nurse. He said this brother-in-law is a DO, so maybe that is why he is turned off to the profession.

Oh well, I guess I have to get used to some people having a prejudice against DO's. I just wanted to share that lovely story with you all.

He can argue with you all he wants. There is only one thing that you need to point out. A DO, whether he finds them inferior or not has something that he will never have, a license to practice medicine and full staff privileges at the hospital. Just remind him who writes his orders.

 

[medhacker]

Oh well, I guess I have to get used to some people having a prejudice against DO's. I just wanted to share that lovely story with you all.

There is always going to be someone who is not convinced, thanks for sharing

 

[Wyclef]

People are just ignant! The DO path is not the one to travel if you are looking for respect. I don't know if many people will ever respect DOs. Hopefully as the percentage of physicians who are DOs rises the general public will slowly but surely learn that DOs are just as well trained and oftentimes even better equipped than MDs to treat them.

 

[Plinko]

Just remind him who writes his orders.

 

[Redneck]

If you guys had this much time to yap while working, then he must have been bored. I've met some characters in a hospital and down periods are quite entertaining. Recognizing this, I bet he was just bored and simply jumped on the opportunity to exacerbate your strong emotions. Congratulations, it seems as though you were played.

 

[dr.z]

He can argue with you all he wants. There is only one thing that you need to point out. A DO, whether he finds them inferior or not has something that he will never have, a license to practice medicine and full staff privileges at the hospital. Just remind him who writes his orders.

 

[silas2642]

He can argue with you all he wants. There is only one thing that you need to point out. A DO, whether he finds them inferior or not has something that he will never have, a license to practice medicine and full staff privileges at the hospital. Just remind him who writes his orders.

Seconded. Try to keep in mind too, that some nurses have inferiority complexes and feel the need to bring down as many people they can whenever possible. Just remember that when you're a DO, that nurse is your bitch.

 

[LovelyRita]

Not to fuel an antinurse flame war, but what's said above is true. Nurses tend to find a lot of time to talk about everyone: other nurses, techs, aides, PA's, and of course the TRUE object of their affection, the doctors. They "observe" a lot because they execute the orders. The talk on the phone to the sometimes rude docs at 3am or 3pm, doesn't matter.

Nurses *do* know a lot, but at the same time know very little. They operate on a common sense basis, which probably saves more lives on a daily basis than people think.

AND, btw, OP, your story is not one of DO discrimination. It is some nurse stating a misinformed opinion. Discrimination is when you go to apply for an elective at an allopathic institution and you don't get accepted because you are a DO.

 

[Raven Feather]

Well, I'm not in medical school yet, and I just experienced my first taste of DO discrimination today. I was at work (in the hospital), and me and a nurse were discussing manipulations and chiropractors. He said that he does not believe in manipulations. I said well, even if you don't believe in manipulations, you can still see a DO since they receive the same training as MD's. He said that DO training is not equal to MD training for DO's are trained in preventive medicine (which they are). He said that MD's are trained to "figure things out" (implying that DO's aren't trained that way).

Anyways, I went on to point out that one of the best ER doctors in our hospital is a DO (something he didn't know beforehand). I said something to effect that he is a good example of the difference in training because this DO spends a great deal of time with every patient examing and talking to them. To this he said that this DO spends so much time with patients because he doesn't know whats wrong with the patients. He said this DO sometimes "guesses" as to whats wrong with the patient.

I also went on to point another DO employed by the hospital who is a partner of the chief of staff (an well-respected MD in town). To this he said that he is not "impressed" with this DO. I was so hopping mad, but I gave up because there was no way of arguing with him. To this nurse's credit, he is not idiot. He has a master's degree in nursing and has been working for 10+ years as a nurse. He said this brother-in-law is a DO, so maybe that is why he is turned off to the profession.

Oh well, I guess I have to get used to some people having a prejudice against DO's. I just wanted to share that lovely story with you all.

I would have to disagree. It is apparent by making such unprofound statements. There's a lot of things his MSN didn't give him--beyond the scope of who was Florence Nightengale. 👎

 

[Tallulah]

People are just ignant! The DO path is not the one to travel if you are looking for respect. I don't know if many people will ever respect DOs. Hopefully as the percentage of physicians who are DOs rises the general public will slowly but surely learn that DOs are just as well trained and oftentimes even better equipped than MDs to treat them.

There are some areas in which a DO has advantages over MDs....i was talking to a family friend over the weekend who is an M.D. doing his residency in Physical and Rehabilitative medicine and he was saying that D.O.s have an advantage there b/c they have an additional means with which to treat the patients...so there's a nice non-discriminatory story to add to this thread 🙂

 

[bustbones26]

Not to fuel an antinurse flame war, but what's said above is true. Nurses tend to find a lot of time to talk about everyone: other nurses, techs, aides, PA's, and of course the TRUE object of their affection, the doctors. They "observe" a lot because they execute the orders. The talk on the phone to the sometimes rude docs at 3am or 3pm, doesn't matter.

Nurses *do* know a lot, but at the same time know very little. They operate on a common sense basis, which probably saves more lives on a daily basis than people think.

AND, btw, OP, your story is not one of DO discrimination. It is some nurse stating a misinformed opinion. Discrimination is when you go to apply for an elective at an allopathic institution and you don't get accepted because you are a DO.

Before this all gets too out of hand, don't anybody misunderstand my intentions in my post here. I am not saying lets all go rub into the faces of nurses that we are docs and go write orders, scream at them on the phone at 3AM, etc.

But from the outside looking in, being a doctor looks like its such an easy job to do, especially to other health care professionals such as nurses. But only till you don the white coat do you realize that not everything is as it appears. Nurses constantly want to know why you did X and why couldn't we do Z instead? A good nurse asks this and listens to the answer. A bad nurse just insist that they are right and that you shouldn't have a license to practice medicine. Anybody here a nurse that turned doctor? If so, speak now and tell everyone that it really wasn't exactly what you thought it would be and that now you have a different appreciation for doctors and why we do the things we do.

Now, because there are some nurses out there that think they know everything (please don't think I am generalizing this to all nurses, just a few bad apples) it is so easy for them to be jealous of a DO. It is so easy for them to think that we somehow hid inside the trojan horse and passed through the gates of medicine. Especially since it is very well known that most DO schools do not have as stringent academic application criteria as MD schools do. We all know that if you are an average joe with bad MCAT score that you definitely have a better chance of getting into a DO school (topic for a different day), but that doesn't matter in the end.

As a DO, you still have to pass three steps of a board exam, do a residency, apply for a license in your state (which will be denied if you don't have the creditentials), pass your specialty boards, and ultimately apply for privileges at a hospital. No hospital in this entire country is going to allow a doctor to say perform a surgery in their operating rooms without providing adequate evidence that they have met the qualifications to do so.

So a nurse can bitch, moan, gripe, and complain that DO's are inferior, *****s, stupid, etc. But the point to get across is this, although not an MD, a DO just didn't pull his/credentials out of the bottom of a cereal box. If they were really so dumb, their hospital would have no problem not allowing them staff privileges and the state board of osteopathic licensing would not have any qualms about revoking their license.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

You know what is interesting, I was talking to a DO the other day who is a LECOM grad and the cheif ER resident at an allopathic hospital. I asked him what he thought about DO discrimination and he said that he had never really thought about it because the topic never really comes up. This is a Level 1 trauma ER and has a great ER staff. Even though he cannot practice OMM in this allopathic hospital, he is still a great doctor who everyone (including nurses and patients) respects.

The nurse to whom the OP was referring most likely had some inferiority complex, especially since he is the most advanced RN possible as a MSN (of course this is not the case for all nurses). One must realize that if a nurse gets a MSN, there is probably (of course not necessarily) an increased chance that he or she has an inferiority complex. And it is easier to pick on DOs than MDs in order to make one feel better about themself.

 

[lillace]

You know what is interesting, I was talking to a DO the other day who is a LECOM grad and the cheif ER resident at an allopathic hospital. I asked him what he thought about DO discrimination and he said that he had never really thought about it because the topic never really comes up. This is a Level 1 trauma ER and has a great ER staff. Even though he cannot practice OMM in this allopathic hospital, he is still a great doctor who everyone (including nurses and patients) respects.

The nurse to whom the OP was referring most likely had some inferiority complex, especially since he is the most advanced RN possible as a MSN (of course this is not the case for all nurses). One must realize that if a nurse gets a MSN, there is probably (of course not necessarily) an increased chance that he or she has an inferiority complex. And it is easier to pick on DOs than MDs in order to make one feel better about themself.

Umm, the highest degree an RN can get is a PhD, or a clinical doctorate. I agree Redneck, I think the nurse was just messing around with him, and found a subject that was a sensitive one for the OP.

 

[PlasticMan]

You know what is interesting, I was talking to a DO the other day who is a LECOM grad and the cheif ER resident at an allopathic hospital. I asked him what he thought about DO discrimination and he said that he had never really thought about it because the topic never really comes up. This is a Level 1 trauma ER and has a great ER staff. Even though he cannot practice OMM in this allopathic hospital, he is still a great doctor who everyone (including nurses and patients) respects.

The nurse to whom the OP was referring most likely had some inferiority complex, especially since he is the most advanced RN possible as a MSN (of course this is not the case for all nurses). One must realize that if a nurse gets a MSN, there is probably (of course not necessarily) an increased chance that he or she has an inferiority complex. And it is easier to pick on DOs than MDs in order to make one feel better about themself.

Are DO's generally not allowed to practice OMM at an allopathic hospital?