Not so familiar with DO school

[DrBuro]

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I am not extremely familiar with DO schools, so maybe some of your can clarify something.

I know DOs and MDs ultimately do the same things in the end, but I've heard something about DOs having to do a year of unpaid internship for a year after they finish school. Is this true? I've heard about the holistic approach or whatever it is, but I was interested in hearing the differences, problems, perks, etc. of becoming a DO compared to an MD. Or a DO compared to a foreign MD. I could not find anything when I did a search.

Also, I was curious if anyone has ever heard of patients or fellow MDs that have problems with DOs simply because of their title? For example, patients requiring an MD or maybe an MD prejudging a DO. You get the idea, I have just started to gain interest in becoming a DO.

 

[medicine1]

I know DOs and MDs ultimately do the same things in the end, but I've heard something about DOs having to do a year of unpaid internship for a year after they finish school. Is this true?

This is False. Most interns, if not all receive some kind of pay and/or compensation for their PGY-1 GME.

 

[medicine1]

From the following website: http://www.aacom.org/om.html

Osteopathic medicine is a distinctive form of medical practice in the United States. Osteopathic medicine provides all of the benefits of modern medicine including prescription drugs, surgery, and the use of technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury. It also offers the added benefit of hands-on diagnosis and treatment through a system of therapy known as osteopathic manipulative medicine. Osteopathic Medicine emphasizes helping each person achieve a high level of wellness by focusing on health education, injury prevention and disease prevention.

Osteopathic medicine was founded in the late 1800s in Kirksville, Missouri by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., who felt that the medical practices of the day often caused more harm than good. After losing members of his immediate family to meningitis, Still focused on developing a system of medical care that would promote the body's innate ability to heal itself. He called his system of medicine osteopathy, now known as osteopathic medicine.

Osteopathic physicians, also known as D.O.s, work in partnership with their patients. They consider the impact that lifestyle and community have on the health of each individual, and they work to erase barriers to good health. D.O.s are licensed to practice the full scope of medicine in all 50 states. They practice in all types of environments including the military, and in all types of specialties from family medicine to obstetrics, surgery, and aerospace medicine.

D.O.s are trained to look at the whole person from their first days of medical school, which means they see each person as more than just a collection of body parts that may become injured or diseased. This holistic approach to patient care means that osteopathic medical students learn how to integrate the patient into the health care process as a partner. They are trained to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, and they get the opportunity to practice these skills in the classroom with simulated patients.

Because of this whole-person approach to medicine, approximately 60 percent of all D.O.s choose to practice in the primary care disciplines of family practice, general internal medicine and pediatrics. Approximately 40 percent of all D.O.s go on to specialize in a wide range of practice areas. If the medical specialty exists, you will find D.O.s there.

While America's 47,000 D.O.s account for only 5 percent of the country's physicians, they handle approximately 10 percent of all primary care visits. D.O.s also have a strong history of serving rural and underserved areas, often providing their unique brand of compassionate, patient-centered care to some of the most economically disadvantaged members of society.

In addition to studying all of the typical subjects you would expect student physicians to master, osteopathic medical students take approximately 200 additional hours of training in the art of osteopathic manipulative medicine. This system of hands-on techniques helps alleviate pain, restores motion, supports the body's natural functions and influence the body's structure to help it function more efficiently.

One key concept osteopathic medical students learn is that structure influences function. Thus, if there is a problem in one part of the body's structure, function in that area, and possibly in other areas, may be affected. For example, restriction of motion in the lower ribs, lumbar spine and abdomen can cause stomach pain with symptoms that mimic irritable bowel syndrome. By using osteopathic manipulative medicine techniques, D.O.s can help restore motion to these areas of the body thus improving gastrointestinal function, oftentimes restoring it to normal.

Another integral tenet of osteopathic medicine is the body's innate ability to heal itself. Many of osteopathic medicine's manipulative techniques are aimed at reducing or eliminating the impediments to proper structure and function so the self-healing mechanism can assume its role in restoring the person to health.

In addition to a strong history of providing high quality patient care, D.O.s conduct clinical and basic science research to help advance the frontiers of medicine and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the osteopathic approach to patient care. Currently, several organizations are involved in osteopathic clinical research in coordination with the national oteopathic research center. The facility's staff develops, facilitates, and conducts multi-center, collaborative clinical research studies.

For more information about the osteopathic research center (ORC), visit the ORC website

For more information about the history of osteopathic medicine, see the history page

Michael L. Kuchera, DO, FAAO explains what makes osteopathic medicine different
View our Published Reports & Information section to read facts and figures about applicants, osteopathic medical schools, osteopathic medical students, osteopathic medicine, and many other categories of information.

 

[Khenon]

I'm surprised you couldn't find much information when you did a search. I essentially learned almost everything I know about DO's from the internet. Even the AMCAS (the MD application) website has links for DO schools and information. On SDN I was told by a fellow postee to get the book "The DO: Osteopathic Medicine in America" by Norman Gevitz. I read it and it really helped me understand how osteopathy started and evolved into what it is now.

Also check out the AOA website and see if you can find a DO in your area to shadow. Not only will this help you with your applications (eg as a reference) but you can ask some of your questions and get an answer straight from the horse's mouth.

Good luck with your application!

 

[chitown82]

From the following website: http://www.aacom.org/om.html

Osteopathic medicine is a distinctive form of medical practice in the United States. Osteopathic medicine provides all of the benefits of modern medicine including prescription drugs, surgery, and the use of technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury. It also offers the added benefit of hands-on diagnosis and treatment through a system of therapy known as osteopathic manipulative medicine. Osteopathic Medicine emphasizes helping each person achieve a high level of wellness by focusing on health education, injury prevention and disease prevention.

Osteopathic medicine was founded in the late 1800s in Kirksville, Missouri by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., who felt that the medical practices of the day often caused more harm than good. After losing members of his immediate family to meningitis, Still focused on developing a system of medical care that would promote the body’s innate ability to heal itself. He called his system of medicine osteopathy, now known as osteopathic medicine.

Osteopathic physicians, also known as D.O.s, work in partnership with their patients. They consider the impact that lifestyle and community have on the health of each individual, and they work to erase barriers to good health. D.O.s are licensed to practice the full scope of medicine in all 50 states. They practice in all types of environments including the military, and in all types of specialties from family medicine to obstetrics, surgery, and aerospace medicine.

D.O.s are trained to look at the whole person from their first days of medical school, which means they see each person as more than just a collection of body parts that may become injured or diseased. This holistic approach to patient care means that osteopathic medical students learn how to integrate the patient into the health care process as a partner. They are trained to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, and they get the opportunity to practice these skills in the classroom with simulated patients.

Because of this whole-person approach to medicine, approximately 60 percent of all D.O.s choose to practice in the primary care disciplines of family practice, general internal medicine and pediatrics. Approximately 40 percent of all D.O.s go on to specialize in a wide range of practice areas. If the medical specialty exists, you will find D.O.s there.

While America’s 47,000 D.O.s account for only 5 percent of the country’s physicians, they handle approximately 10 percent of all primary care visits. D.O.s also have a strong history of serving rural and underserved areas, often providing their unique brand of compassionate, patient-centered care to some of the most economically disadvantaged members of society.

In addition to studying all of the typical subjects you would expect student physicians to master, osteopathic medical students take approximately 200 additional hours of training in the art of osteopathic manipulative medicine. This system of hands-on techniques helps alleviate pain, restores motion, supports the body’s natural functions and influence the body’s structure to help it function more efficiently.

One key concept osteopathic medical students learn is that structure influences function. Thus, if there is a problem in one part of the body’s structure, function in that area, and possibly in other areas, may be affected. For example, restriction of motion in the lower ribs, lumbar spine and abdomen can cause stomach pain with symptoms that mimic irritable bowel syndrome. By using osteopathic manipulative medicine techniques, D.O.s can help restore motion to these areas of the body thus improving gastrointestinal function, oftentimes restoring it to normal.

Another integral tenet of osteopathic medicine is the body’s innate ability to heal itself. Many of osteopathic medicine’s manipulative techniques are aimed at reducing or eliminating the impediments to proper structure and function so the self-healing mechanism can assume its role in restoring the person to health.

In addition to a strong history of providing high quality patient care, D.O.s conduct clinical and basic science research to help advance the frontiers of medicine and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the osteopathic approach to patient care. Currently, several organizations are involved in osteopathic clinical research in coordination with the national oteopathic research center. The facility’s staff develops, facilitates, and conducts multi-center, collaborative clinical research studies.

For more information about the osteopathic research center (ORC), visit the ORC website

For more information about the history of osteopathic medicine, see the history page

Michael L. Kuchera, DO, FAAO explains what makes osteopathic medicine different
View our Published Reports & Information section to read facts and figures about applicants, osteopathic medical schools, osteopathic medical students, osteopathic medicine, and many other categories of information.

what concerns me is the notion that DOs look at the patient as a whole and "see each person as more than just a collection of body parts that may become injured or diseased" while MDs don't. i doubt MD schools simply look at the patient as a series of symptoms, etc. the only difference i see between MDs and DOs is OMM. why is it that so many people who defend DOs or compare them to MDs note that DOs treat patients holistically and MDs dont. im not trying to start a war of words, but i think that approach of explaining the differences between MDs and DOs is false.

 

[BMW19]

OMM is part of the reason that DO's look at the patient as a whole. A DO may look to treat something NeuroMuskuloskeletal in nature with hands on treatment instead of just painkillers and muscle relaxers. This in itself entails looking at the problem from a more holistic standpoint than an MD. It doesn't make it better or worse, just different. But anyway, it is a different approach in that respect. In a discipline such as EM or Surgery the approach is prob. exactly the same.

what concerns me is the notion that DOs look at the patient as a whole and "see each person as more than just a collection of body parts that may become injured or diseased" while MDs don't. i doubt MD schools simply look at the patient as a series of symptoms, etc. the only difference i see between MDs and DOs is OMM. why is it that so many people who defend DOs or compare them to MDs note that DOs treat patients holistically and MDs dont. im not trying to start a war of words, but i think that approach of explaining the differences between MDs and DOs is false.

 

[chitown82]

OMM is part of the reason that DO's look at the patient as a whole. A DO may look to treat something NeuroMuskuloskeletal in nature with hands on treatment instead of just painkillers and muscle relaxers. This in itself entails looking at the problem from a more holistic standpoint than an MD. It doesn't make it better or worse, just different. But anyway, it is a different approach in that respect. In a discipline such as EM or Surgery the approach is prob. exactly the same.

now this makes perfect sense 👍 why dont' people on here just say this? i doubt most people who say that DOs treat the patient as a whole subscribe to what you've mentioned.

 

[Fenrezz]

what concerns me is the notion that DOs look at the patient as a whole and "see each person as more than just a collection of body parts that may become injured or diseased" while MDs don't. i doubt MD schools simply look at the patient as a series of symptoms, etc. the only difference i see between MDs and DOs is OMM. why is it that so many people who defend DOs or compare them to MDs note that DOs treat patients holistically and MDs dont. im not trying to start a war of words, but i think that approach of explaining the differences between MDs and DOs is false.

Most DO students on here will tell you that DO's are NOT holistic. It's just one of those things that gets passed around by pre-med students, mostly those who are planning on applying to DO schools.

Most people in allopathic and osteopathic med school pretty much know that DO's and MD's look at patients the same, neither are more holistic than the other.

I'm finishing my third year, having worked with plenty of DO's in both DO and non DO hopsitals as well as clinics and I can assure you, at least in my part of the world, there is nothing holistic about the way patients are looked at.

 

[chitown82]

Most DO students on here will tell you that DO's are NOT holistic. It's just one of those things that gets passed around by pre-med students, mostly those who are planning on applying to DO schools.

Most people in allopathic and osteopathic med school pretty much know that DO's and MD's look at patients the same, neither are more holistic than the other.

I'm finishing my third year, having worked with plenty of DO's in both DO and non DO hopsitals as well as clinics and I can assure you, at least in my part of the world, there is nothing holistic about the way patients are looked at.

thanks for the info. so what exactly is the difference then btw DO and MD schools? i dont believe people go to DO schools cuz of omt when less than 5% of practicing DOs use it. what is the "DO philosophy" that people speak of all the time.

 

[Aloha Kid]

thanks for the info. so what exactly is the difference then btw DO and MD schools? i dont believe people go to DO schools cuz of omt when less than 5% of practicing DOs use it. what is the "DO philosophy" that people speak of all the time.

I think your true and subconscious question is diving into the realm of, "What is Osteopathic Medicine." It appears you are tired of the general and vague explanations most D.O.s give to the generally ignorant public. The general answers we tend to hear are often sugar coated, brief, simple, cautiously empty, and very unsatisfying.

The answer is really quite ambiguous, somewhat difficult to define. There exists a dichotomy, and even a conundrum. The best explanation I ever heard was given by the OMT chair at my school. He said, "After all these years of practice, I'm still not quite sure what osteopathic medicine is, BUT I'm learning more about it everyday."

The fact of the matter is that osteopathic medicine is very difficult to define. I suppose that's the reason many D.O.s tell the history of AT Still and the origins of osteopathy so readily rather than trying to face the issue dead on. Have you ever heard a M.D. telling the history of allopathic medicine? I would guess never. But then again, most M.D.s aren't asked the question, "What's a M.D.?"

Regardless of this dilemma, and round about endlessness, the unexplainable is explainable in the mind of D.O.s who have embraced the philosophy of osteopathy. Call us a brotherhood, sisterhood, fraternity, bunch of quacks, but we cannot deny that our approach to the patient based on our understanding and learning of the entire body is different than the general allopath. Perhaps it's the in depth understanding osteopaths have of the connection between the central nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and visceral system that separates us from the pack. Yet, maybe perhaps it's just an unfounded belief that we see things differently irregardless of whether or not we choose to perform manipulation. In the end, Osteopathic medicine is for the believers. It's for those of us who believe that there is a better and more complete way to practice the art of medicine and healing.

Perhaps the truth is, that in order to embrace osteopathy, we must rely upon both hemispheres of the right and left brain. The left tells us that logically, scientific evendence must exist. Yet, perhaps more importantly, the right tells us of hope and belief in better methods, explanations, and ways of practicing medicine. In the end, the right brain drives the left.

 

[redwings54]

OMM is part of the reason that DO's look at the patient as a whole. A DO may look to treat something NeuroMuskuloskeletal in nature with hands on treatment instead of just painkillers and muscle relaxers. This in itself entails looking at the problem from a more holistic standpoint than an MD. It doesn't make it better or worse, just different. But anyway, it is a different approach in that respect. In a discipline such as EM or Surgery the approach is prob. exactly the same.

I think BMW19 has it pretty correct. Working in a hospital I interact with a lot of MDs and a few DOs. The MDs seem to be more centralized in their treatment of disease. By this I mean that MDs see someone with a localized pain and prescribe NSAIDs to help alleviate the problems and dont do much as far as anything else that might be affecting the patient. The DOs I have seen, who use OMT regularly, work on the local pain but also take into account other areas of the body as well as psychological implications. Sickness takes its tole on the mind as well as the body, a factor many physicians forget. Maybe I just met some awesome DOs, but they help to ensure that all areas of sickness are taken into account. All doctors should do this, but in my experiences few take the time to. I am not saying all DOs do, but some seem to make notice of psychological factors more often. I think this is part of the holistic approach that people refer to when they mention DOs treat the whole person. Not that MDs dont do it. Just maybe DOs are more open to it. Anyway, this is just my $.02 and I might be all wet. Good luck with your search.