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I thought this was was an interesting letter to the DO Magazine and I think it's completely accurate and true. I am glad more and more people are speaking out and letting the AOA know the true realities on ground instead of having them think of what it is for all DO's. I think the greater the DO numbers become in the years to come the more people will voice their opinion. Let me know what you guys think:
Lauderdale, Fla.
https://www.do-online.org/pdf/pub_do0508letters.pdf
Enfranchising DOs
I am writing in response to the article by AOA Executive Director John B. Crosby, JD, in the February issue. In my brief career as an osteopathic physician, I have been witness to the pessimism discussed in this article. Unfortunately, the AOA contributes to disenfranchisement by narrowly focusing on primary care physicians, as well as by attempting to maintain the distinctiveness and exclusivity of osteopathic medicine. I have never read any blogs concerning this matter much less posted my opinion on one. I am not hiding behind anonymity because I want to actively participate in the direction the AOA takes. In his article, Mr Crosby says, "We value your opinions. We want to meet your needs." However, I need to perceive actual changes and not feel as if my suggestions fall on deaf ears. Apparently, many disenfranchised DOs feel this is already occurring.
The AOA needs to alter its direction and focus and adapt to the changing landscape of medicine, or it risks becoming a defunct organization. Mr Crosby proposes a number of factors that may contribute to the feeling of separation many physicians feel between themselves and the AOA. He suggests training in residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and acquiescing to the "vocal minority" that advocates "changing the DO degree" to an "amalgamation of DO with MD" as possible causes. However, because the separation is real, not myth, between the leadership and those who would otherwise participate wholeheartedly in the AOA, I offer two suggestions to increase inclusion. First, the AOA, and osteopathic medicine in general, must cease having its main focus be primary care. I expect this to sound like heresy to the more "seasoned" DOs, but our profession's leaders need to come to terms with the changes occurring within its members. In her article "Slumping OGME Piques Educators At Summit," AOA Senior Editorial Project Manager Carolyn Schierhorn states, "52% of the DOs who graduated in 2007 are training in non-primary-care specialties." I am one of those graduates who chose to narrow the scope of my medical practice and become a specialist. Ms Schierhorn also described one of the objectives of the second Medical Education Summit, which was to "wrestl[e] with the specifics of how to induce more osteopathic medical students to choose primary care." There shouldn't be any inducing, encouraging or coercing of students to choose one specialty over another.
Clearly, and despite the pressure placed on them to enter primary care, medical students are increasingly selecting non-primary- care specialties. Osteopathic medicine has a long history of service in primary care, and it is this tradition on which our profession has been built. However, if osteopathic medicine and the AOA continue to look to the past, they will not be able to adapt to the future. As DOs, we are permeating every specialty within medicine and need not be pigeonholed into primary care any longer. The AOA perpetuates disenfranchisement by "rebranding" itself but continuing to focus on issues surrounding primary care to the exclusion of the vast number of specialists who will soon dominate its membership.
Second, the AOA should promote homogeneity with our allopathic counterparts. I feel the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education has application on this point. In this landmark ruling ending racial segregation, the justices found the concept "separate but equal" really meant "inherently unequal." Similarly, if we as osteopathic physicians continue to promote separation from our allopathic counterparts due to our exclusive distinctiveness and uniqueness, we forever will be considered inherently unequal. Would not patient care improve if we shared our knowledge of manipulation with MDs or allowed them access to osteopathic residency positions? Acrimony between allopathic and osteopathic physicians is virtually nonexistent in the recent generations of physicians.
The self-aggrandizing behavior of continually pointing out how different and better DOs are compared to allopathic physicians exposes an inferiority complex within the profession. For example, Mr Crosby states, "it signals a more fundamental problem when the most completely trained physicians in the world seek to identify themselves with MDs rather than their own professional colleagues." This statement reeks of a haughty air of superiority designed to be divisive and promote disunity between physicians, the larger classification to which all DOs and MDs belong. My allopathic counterparts are, in fact, my professional colleagues. I treat my patients with the same acumen and prowess as my coworkers do, and I don't feel the need to inject the word osteopathic into every sentence I speak. I have yet to hear anyone claim to be an "allopathic anesthesiologist." We are similar in almost every way and are treated as such.
The AOA should cease stressing nearly minuscule differences between professions and focus on the overwhelming number of similarities. The AOA can increase its appeal to DOs by catering more to specialists and by focusing on ground held in common with our professional counterparts. Because significant needs are not being met, "the AOA is losing valuable members who choose to train inACGME-accredited programs" and many DOs are "break[ing] away from the profession they chose to join." In the near future, recent graduates will start assuming leadership roles within the AOA and will bring with them predominant ideas such as these. If the AOA does not recognize the changes occurring within its membership and adapt to meet the demands required by the new paradigm, it runs the risk of becoming a footnote in medical history. Let's not have any disenfranchised DOs!
Capt Daron E. Olmsted, DO, MC,
USAF
Dr Olmsted graduated in 2007 from
the Nova Southeastern University College
of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort
I am writing in response to the article by AOA Executive Director John B. Crosby, JD, in the February issue. In my brief career as an osteopathic physician, I have been witness to the pessimism discussed in this article. Unfortunately, the AOA contributes to disenfranchisement by narrowly focusing on primary care physicians, as well as by attempting to maintain the distinctiveness and exclusivity of osteopathic medicine. I have never read any blogs concerning this matter much less posted my opinion on one. I am not hiding behind anonymity because I want to actively participate in the direction the AOA takes. In his article, Mr Crosby says, "We value your opinions. We want to meet your needs." However, I need to perceive actual changes and not feel as if my suggestions fall on deaf ears. Apparently, many disenfranchised DOs feel this is already occurring.
The AOA needs to alter its direction and focus and adapt to the changing landscape of medicine, or it risks becoming a defunct organization. Mr Crosby proposes a number of factors that may contribute to the feeling of separation many physicians feel between themselves and the AOA. He suggests training in residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and acquiescing to the "vocal minority" that advocates "changing the DO degree" to an "amalgamation of DO with MD" as possible causes. However, because the separation is real, not myth, between the leadership and those who would otherwise participate wholeheartedly in the AOA, I offer two suggestions to increase inclusion. First, the AOA, and osteopathic medicine in general, must cease having its main focus be primary care. I expect this to sound like heresy to the more "seasoned" DOs, but our profession's leaders need to come to terms with the changes occurring within its members. In her article "Slumping OGME Piques Educators At Summit," AOA Senior Editorial Project Manager Carolyn Schierhorn states, "52% of the DOs who graduated in 2007 are training in non-primary-care specialties." I am one of those graduates who chose to narrow the scope of my medical practice and become a specialist. Ms Schierhorn also described one of the objectives of the second Medical Education Summit, which was to "wrestl[e] with the specifics of how to induce more osteopathic medical students to choose primary care." There shouldn't be any inducing, encouraging or coercing of students to choose one specialty over another.
Clearly, and despite the pressure placed on them to enter primary care, medical students are increasingly selecting non-primary- care specialties. Osteopathic medicine has a long history of service in primary care, and it is this tradition on which our profession has been built. However, if osteopathic medicine and the AOA continue to look to the past, they will not be able to adapt to the future. As DOs, we are permeating every specialty within medicine and need not be pigeonholed into primary care any longer. The AOA perpetuates disenfranchisement by "rebranding" itself but continuing to focus on issues surrounding primary care to the exclusion of the vast number of specialists who will soon dominate its membership.
Second, the AOA should promote homogeneity with our allopathic counterparts. I feel the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education has application on this point. In this landmark ruling ending racial segregation, the justices found the concept "separate but equal" really meant "inherently unequal." Similarly, if we as osteopathic physicians continue to promote separation from our allopathic counterparts due to our exclusive distinctiveness and uniqueness, we forever will be considered inherently unequal. Would not patient care improve if we shared our knowledge of manipulation with MDs or allowed them access to osteopathic residency positions? Acrimony between allopathic and osteopathic physicians is virtually nonexistent in the recent generations of physicians.
The self-aggrandizing behavior of continually pointing out how different and better DOs are compared to allopathic physicians exposes an inferiority complex within the profession. For example, Mr Crosby states, "it signals a more fundamental problem when the most completely trained physicians in the world seek to identify themselves with MDs rather than their own professional colleagues." This statement reeks of a haughty air of superiority designed to be divisive and promote disunity between physicians, the larger classification to which all DOs and MDs belong. My allopathic counterparts are, in fact, my professional colleagues. I treat my patients with the same acumen and prowess as my coworkers do, and I don't feel the need to inject the word osteopathic into every sentence I speak. I have yet to hear anyone claim to be an "allopathic anesthesiologist." We are similar in almost every way and are treated as such.
The AOA should cease stressing nearly minuscule differences between professions and focus on the overwhelming number of similarities. The AOA can increase its appeal to DOs by catering more to specialists and by focusing on ground held in common with our professional counterparts. Because significant needs are not being met, "the AOA is losing valuable members who choose to train inACGME-accredited programs" and many DOs are "break[ing] away from the profession they chose to join." In the near future, recent graduates will start assuming leadership roles within the AOA and will bring with them predominant ideas such as these. If the AOA does not recognize the changes occurring within its membership and adapt to meet the demands required by the new paradigm, it runs the risk of becoming a footnote in medical history. Let's not have any disenfranchised DOs!
Capt Daron E. Olmsted, DO, MC,
USAF
Dr Olmsted graduated in 2007 from
the Nova Southeastern University College
of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.
https://www.do-online.org/pdf/pub_do0508letters.pdf
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