MD to OD

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lol no, just practice as an OD with your unlimited Medical License.
 
Tippytoe said:
Funny. Makes me wonder. Do people say I want to be an gynecologist because I really, really love vaginas? 😀

Or, I wanna be a podiatrist because I really, really love feet.😛
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....makes me wonder about those proctologists. Or worse yet, those people that hold the suction at colinic clinics. I can just see the interview now (dreamy transition);

"Yes, Mr interviewer, I really love the human fecal pathway. I can't see myself doing anything else but emptying out the stagnant bowels of overweight clientele with 5 pounds of undigested red meat in their gut."
 
This is an interesting post..So you want to get an OD because you "can't match" in ophtho as an MD? Its great our field is the default for people who don't want to "do all the work" of medical school, "cant't match into ophtho" or "haven't gotten into med school in two attempts" What happened to people who wanted to be ODs? It just reemphasizes our field as a default for the rejects. As someone who wanted to be an OD, only applied to OD schools it is nauseating to hear.

Let me get this straight...So you would give up a salary of 200-300K in other fields to get a job making 60K-120K because you "love the eye?" . I understand now why you won't match in ophthalmology..you need to stop your drug abuse because you must be high..
 
Why hasn't anyone taken this post at face value?

Someone in med school, who isn't sure they're competitive for ophtho, but are interested in the eyes (and presumably wants to practice in a profession involving the eyes), considers optometry school to fulfill that desire.

It's fascinating. I haven't heard of an MD -> OD, except in a few foreign trained MD cases. Anyways - whatever floats your boat. I'd say just pick a residency (eg family or whatever) and practice medicine. Honestly, it all comes down to the same thing - it's all work. But your MD degree is in much greater demand than an OD ever will be. As for just "doing the eyes" because of an unrestricted license - I think that kinda ignores the actual knowledge required of someone who wants to practice in the eyes (which you, as "just" an MD, wouldn't have).

Anyways - by going the OD route, you're probably taking 100K off your salary. It probably isn't worth it, but it all depends on what will make you fulfilled.
 
mclem222 said:
As someone who wanted to be an OD, only applied to OD schools it is nauseating to hear.
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This is me. I never applied to anything else and never really desired to be anything else except for the usual childhood musings such as astronaut or pilot.
 
Well - there's a large number of MDs practicing as refractionists up here in Canada, so the concept of an MD practicing as an OD isn't farfetched - its common.
 
Optogal said:
Well - there's a large number of MDs practicing as refractionists up here in Canada, so the concept of an MD practicing as an OD isn't farfetched - its common.
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Haha the OMD I worked for during the summer was basically an Optometrist. He was doing bifocals, single vision, contact lenses, and treating minor eye disease for 20 days out of the month. 2 days out of the month he was an OMD because he did surgery 😱
 
Shnurek said:
Haha the OMD I worked for during the summer was basically an Optometrist. He was doing bifocals, single vision, contact lenses, and treating minor eye disease for 20 days out of the month. 2 days out of the month he was an OMD because he did surgery 😱
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Why did he tailor his practice to primary eye care? Is he close to retirement or already retired? Are his surgical skill not as in demand in the area he serves?

Just curious.
 
Poetic Silence said:
Why did he tailor his practice to primary eye care? Is he close to retirement or already retired? Are his surgical skill not as in demand in the area he serves?

Just curious.
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Most likely because the eyecare market is so saturated that even many surgeons have to scrap by with whatever they can get. Seriously.

To the original poster: I did have an MD in my optometry school class and one in the class behind me. I have NO idea why. Probably just career students hiding from the real world. They probably didn't realize they could just hang out with an OD for a month and learn everything they needed to know. This is why I think OD school should be an associates degree.
 
q1we3 said:
Agree, the scope is very limited and degree is too long and expensive.
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It's mostly a money making scheme. Same with pharmacy schools. Same with audiologist. Everyone now has to have a doctorage degree. How much traning does a pharmacist need to look stuff up on a computer and count pills? Does someone that checks your hearing really need 4 years of graduate school? (I know all will argue they do much, much more).

I expect PA programs, who have gone from a bachelors degree to a master degree in about 15 years will soon be a doctorate degree as well. The longer they can keep people in school, the more money. Every college I know is building giant new buildings at an incredible rate. I'm afraid, we, the pubic, are the suckers for contining to give them more and more of our money (and the gov't money). But I guess until people stop going and/or the gov't gets out of the education business, it will continue the way it is. Some education people are getting VERY rich.

But back to optometry school, if an MD can learn the entire body in 4 years, how long should it take to learn about 2 inches of the body (meaning the eyeballs and a little brain and systemic stuff)? Schools could skip the crap you already learn in undergrad like biochemistry and the like. And they could skip all the old binocular tests that were developed 80 years ago but are never used today.

An optometrist could very easily be trained well in 2 years.
 
Its like a lot of things in America. You have hoops to jump through. So that dumb people that think they know everything will not get licensed. Its not a perfect system but its the best we have to filter people out.
 
Tippytoe said:
It's mostly a money making scheme. Same with pharmacy schools. Same with audiologist. Everyone now has to have a doctorage degree. How much traning does a pharmacist need to look stuff up on a computer and count pills? Does someone that checks your hearing really need 4 years of graduate school? (I know all will argue they do much, much more).

I expect PA programs, who have gone from a bachelors degree to a master degree in about 15 years will soon be a doctorate degree as well. The longer they can keep people in school, the more money. Every college I know is building giant new buildings at an incredible rate. I'm afraid, we, the pubic, are the suckers for contining to give them more and more of our money (and the gov't money). But I guess until people stop going and/or the gov't gets out of the education business, it will continue the way it is. Some education people are getting VERY rich.

But back to optometry school, if an MD can learn the entire body in 4 years, how long should it take to learn about 2 inches of the body (meaning the eyeballs and a little brain and systemic stuff)? Schools could skip the crap you already learn in undergrad like biochemistry and the like. And they could skip all the old binocular tests that were developed 80 years ago but are never used today.

An optometrist could very easily be trained well in 2 years.
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Problem with ODs is that they are not the last stop, they are the middle man. Anything they are not comfortable with just refer to the real "eye doctor" the OMD. So it should be similar to a PA. Most ODs are not diagnosing diseases or doing any surgeries. They are refracting 99% of the time. So, 4 years is an extreme overkill just to cover that 1%.
 
q1we3 said:
Most ODs are not diagnosing diseases or doing any surgeries. They are refracting 99% of the time.
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I would agree with you except for the sentence above. It should read, "Most commercial ODs are not diagnosing diseases or doing any surgery". Private practice ODs do glaucoma and eyelid and corneal problems very well. But these are things that don't sell glasses so no need for them in Da' Mart.

And seeing how the vast majority are or will be going into commercial from here on out...............well I guess your sentence probably is correct after all. :scared:
 
1. You do not need an OD degree to practice optometry
2. If you practice "medical" eye care only, the medical degree works just fine. I have heard of internists practice "optometry" in a public clinic and after 1-2 years, they can do everything that an optometrist can do.
3. You do need to be board eligible or board certified to be on a medical directory for eye care. That would be crucial. No optometry degree + MD will give you that.
4. In summary, if you like eyeballs a lot, go to public hospital and work for OD wages and you will get the experience. Whether you can get MD wages is problematic, but it is purely negotiable and if you can, then you can expect to make something in between a MD internist degree and an ophthalmologist salary.
 
362.04 said:
1. You do not need an OD degree to practice optometry
2. If you practice "medical" eye care only, the medical degree works just fine. I have heard of internists practice "optometry" in a public clinic and after 1-2 years, they can do everything that an optometrist can do.
.
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Easier than this, you can become a pediatrician and get an autorefractor and do it on every kid and bill their insurance for an "eye exam". I have a few unethical and greedy Peds MD that do this. Guess they haven't got caught yet or either insurance companies don't care. The patient only cares when they come for a real eye exam and their exam benefits are already used up. We have to have them call their insurance company and complain and their eye benefits are reinstated. Nothing ever happens to the MD's though. 🙄

I even have one Ped MD doing EOGs (electro-diagnostic) test on every kid with less than 20/20 vision and billing their insurance. I only found this out because my neuroMD friend took his son there and they tried to do it on him (20/40 just needed glasses). Of course the neuro was outraged.

There is no limit to what unethical people will do for a buck.
 
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Tippytoe said:
But back to optometry school, if an MD can learn the entire body in 4 years, how long should it take to learn about 2 inches of the body (meaning the eyeballs and a little brain and systemic stuff)? Schools could skip the crap you already learn in undergrad like biochemistry and the like. And they could skip all the old binocular tests that were developed 80 years ago but are never used today.

An optometrist could very easily be trained well in 2 years.
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There is definitely some truth in this. I hope that there will be a major reform in education someday. It won't help me, but it will save many from the B.S., and that alone will put a smile on my face.
 
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