NYITCOM vs WesternU COMP - Pomona

[Luckygirlsadheart]

Hi Everyone, I know there was a similar post comparing these two schools, but I wanted to ask again since that post is a little outdated and I know things have changed at both schools over the years.

How do you compare the rotations/residency matches? Academic support? Clubs and activities?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Rekt]

Hi Everyone, I know there was a similar post comparing these two schools, but I wanted to ask again since that post is a little outdated and I know things have changed at both schools over the years.

How do you compare the rotations/residency matches? Academic support? Clubs and activities?

This is the wrong forum.

But I'd personally go with Western COMP over NYIT. I've only heard of a constant stream of negative things coming out of NYIT.

 

[Luckygirlsadheart]

This is the wrong forum.

But I'd personally go with Western COMP over NYIT. I've only heard of a constant stream of negative things coming out of NYIT.

Oops, where should I post this? Thanks for your feedback

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

What are the class sizes for both schools?
I think NYIT is near 300 while Western is 250?
Honestly, where do you want to live for the next 4 years and where do you want to go for residency? That's all that matters

 

[MADD!!!]

NYIT has pros and cons over WesternU....

If you see yourself as a strong student then go to NYIT. They have a vast opti network with residencies in almost every specialty. But if you see yourself as a weak student, go to WesternU. NYIT is known for having a higher than average attrition rate and if you fail more than 2 or 3 classes in one year they may just kick you out as opposed to allowing you to remediate.

WesternU babies you through med school, as I've heard, and the teachers do a great job of making you a primary care physician. BUT, they do pressure students to pursue primary care as it is integral to their mission and geographic area. Also, their hospitals are mostly small community centers, which again is fine for primary care but not geared towards specialties well.

Most people who attend WesternU don't do so because the school is good (not saying it's a bad school but certainly nothing special), but they go because it's the only school in SoCal and there's TONS of pre-meds here who just want to stay close to home for various reasons.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

Also, their hospitals are mostly small community centers, which again is fine for primary care but not geared towards specialties well.

uhh Western students rotate at some of the largest medical centers in southern California. Arrowhead and Riverside General have about 500 beds each and the other hospitals in Colton and the desert are also huge regional trauma centers.

 

[MADD!!!]

uhh Western students rotate at some of the largest medical centers in southern California. Arrowhead and Riverside General have about 500 beds each and the other hospitals in Colton and the desert are also huge regional trauma centers.

As far as I've heard, most of the hospitals are not considered training hospitals. I've heard that Arrowhead is the best site they have as well. I'll let @darknecrosforte step in here and give his take on it.

Again, compared to NYIT the hospitals that WesternU has are definitely lacking in my opinion. The WesternU hospitals are mostly small, community hospitals rather than large teaching hospitals and it's good for primary care, but not good if you're trying to learn specialties or for any of the competitive specialties.

Please check out NYIT's OPTI network and residency programs, then check out WesternU's (Which by the way it shares with Touro CA, NV, PNWU, and it's sister campus in Oregon) vs. NYIT's. NYIT has more residencies setup AND in much more specialties and NYIT is the ONLY member in it's opti (except for now NYIT Arkansas as well).


With that said, I think WesternU has done a fantastic job given their resources. You've got the UC's here who dominate all of the major teaching hospitals in their localities (and unfortunately in SoCal we really don't have many teaching hospitals to begin with) and poor WesternU has gone practically door-to-door to setup as many clinical sites and residences as possible. With the resources WesternU had to work with, they've done an incredible job. But yea, East coast in general just has wayyy more resources to tap into so this is where geographical location comes into play.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

OP, take it from a second year student, they are both the same. Pick based on location preference.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

As far as I've heard, most of the hospitals are not considered training hospitals. I've heard that Arrowhead is the best site they have as well. I'll let @darknecrosforte step in here and give his take on it.

Actually I've heard Arrowhead is one of their worst sites and is mainly preceptor based, despite housing many residencies both AOA and ACGME.

OP I would personally go to NYIT over Western.

 

[Goro]

Do you like NY deli and pizza, or Mexican food?

Hi Everyone, I know there was a similar post comparing these two schools, but I wanted to ask again since that post is a little outdated and I know things have changed at both schools over the years.

How do you compare the rotations/residency matches? Academic support? Clubs and activities?

 

[MADD!!!]

OP, take it from a second year student, they are both the same. Pick based on location preference.

I do agree to some extent. The stuff I write is SDN banter, basically helping give some reason to tease out each school.

But from your experiences, does WesternU put pressure to pursue a primary care field? I just notice that on their match list (which is for pomona and Lebanon combined) only 3 students matched into surgery.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

I do agree to some extent. The stuff I write is SDN banter, basically helping give some reason to tease out each school.

But from your experiences, does WesternU put pressure to pursue a primary care field? I just notice that on their match list (which is for pomona and Lebanon combined) only 3 students matched into surgery.

I don't know where you got that. For 2016 there were 3 in Neurosurgery, 9 in ortho, 12 in general. 50% primary care. In 2015 it was 60% primary care.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I do agree to some extent. The stuff I write is SDN banter, basically helping give some reason to tease out each school.

But from your experiences, does WesternU put pressure to pursue a primary care field? I just notice that on their match list (which is for pomona and Lebanon combined) only 3 students matched into surgery.

Yeah that's not true. I'm not sure where you saw that

 

[MADD!!!]

Yeah that's not true. I'm not sure where you saw that

I've read it on other posts here. One specifically about a student wanting to get audition rotations and the faculty told them "sorry, we can't help you. We recommend you look for a family medicine or internal medicine physician to audition instead."

 

[MADD!!!]

https://www.westernu.edu/bin/osteopathic/2015_match.pdf

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I'm not saying they don't push you into PC but the 3 surgical matches. In that link you posted there are at least 8, with most likely one or two of the military matches being surgical. That is also the 2015 list, in 2016 there were more.

 

[MADD!!!]

I'm not saying they don't push you into PC but the 3 surgical matches. In that link you posted there are at least 8, with most likely one or two of the military matches being surgical. That is also the 2015 list, in 2016 there were more.

By surg I meant gen surg. And yea I did notice that actually. It just sucks because I know I'm CA there's still a huge DO bias. It's definitely worse here than East coast and it is rare to find DO's in specialties here. Even the students that do go from COMP to specialize, many of them end up moving to the east coast or mid-west. And my logic is that if you went to an east coast med school like NYIT or PCOM that hosts many of these specialty residencies to begin with, your chances would be higher because you can rotate at them for your core rotations and establish more connections.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

By surg I meant gen surg. And yea I did notice that actually. It just sucks because I know I'm CA there's still a huge DO bias. It's definitely worse here than East coast and it is rare to find DO's in specialties here. Even the students that do go from COMP to specialize, many of them end up moving to the east coast or mid-west. And my logic is that if you went to an east coast med school like NYIT or PCOM that hosts many of these specialty residencies to begin with, your chances would be higher because you can rotate at them for your core rotations and establish more connections.

Ah gen surg. Yeah I never know how to read gen surg matches because it is such a brutal residency that deters a lot of students, that doesn't have the big salary pay off that the subs have. Seeing as a good number of DOs are non-trads or people who start out gunning for PC I can imagine the idea of a 5 year hell is worse than the black plague to them. Even if they want to specialize they either are competitive enough for a surgical sub or they do something like Anesthesia, that makes more money and has better hours. I do agree that California in particular is brutal to match, but that could likely just be the fact that a ton of people are trying to get a spot there.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

By surg I meant gen surg. And yea I did notice that actually. It just sucks because I know I'm CA there's still a huge DO bias. It's definitely worse here than East coast and it is rare to find DO's in specialties here. Even the students that do go from COMP to specialize, many of them end up moving to the east coast or mid-west. And my logic is that if you went to an east coast med school like NYIT or PCOM that hosts many of these specialty residencies to begin with, your chances would be higher because you can rotate at them for your core rotations and establish more connections.

You are thinking about this all wrong.
By the time you and OP start the match, the combined match will be in full force and whether you attend a school with in house residencies may not have much of an impact because you will be competing against a much larger pool and the games will be different. Basing your decision on which school to attend based off of how many programs the school's OPTI has is just silly.

 

[MADD!!!]

Ah gen surg. Yeah I never know how to read gen surg matches because it is such a brutal residency that deters a lot of students, that doesn't have the big salary pay off that the subs have. Seeing as a good number of DOs are non-trads or people who start out gunning for PC I can imagine the idea of a 5 year hell is worse than the black plague to them. Even if they want to specialize they either are competitive enough for a surgical sub or they do something like Anesthesia, that makes more money and has better hours. I do agree that California in particular is brutal to match, but that could likely just be the fact that a ton of people are trying to get a spot there.

Unfortunately there's a huge bias against DO's here, particularly in the UC's. Not only that, but CA is basically the only powerhouse state in the west coast until Texas. AZ, NV, OR, MT, CO, NM, etc. etc. all have very few residencies and specialty residencies so it's just tough. This combined with the fact that almost all MD students from CA who leave CA to med school apply back to CA residencies along with the UC med students. THAT combined with the fact that CA is basically the only state in the west coast to have an ample amount of residencies (as opposed to east coast where you have NY, Philly, Maryland, etc. etc. all nearby with TONSSS of residencies in each state).

After interviewing in the east coast and researching their residencies extensively, I see that many DO students and MD students do residencies at the same spots. In CA, it's usually DO + Carib Students doing residencies at the same spots or just the AOA spots.

 

[MADD!!!]

You are thinking about this all wrong.
By the time you and OP start the match, the combined match will be in full force and whether you attend a school with in house residencies may not have much of an impact because you will be competing against a much larger pool and the games will be different. Basing your decision on which school to attend based off of how many programs the school's OPTI has is just silly.

Doesn't matter. Just because the accreditation agency has changed, the hospital and it's long-standing reputation with their students hasn't. The Program Director is the same as well. And I think it does make a difference. Look at the match list for schools like PCOM and NYIT that have their own OPTI's vs. schools that don't. You will see that the schools that have their own OPTI's have many of their own students matching into their programs. And the way residencies work also is very biased in that if a certain program has received residents from a particular medical school and like them, they will generally continue to accept students from that program.

Also, another point to make is that the OPTI does matter because the same places that have the residencies set up are where students do their core rotations for 3rd year. So if I go to a school that has let's say an Ortho Surg residency setup, then rotate at that hospital my 3rd year, I have increased my chances of matching there for residency if I display myself well and network with the staff. And for the staff if they like you and know your work vs. another applicant applying out of state, who would they rather take? Of course it could backfire if you're NOT a good student as well, but you get what I mean.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

You are thinking about this all wrong.
By the time you and OP start the match, the combined match will be in full force and whether you attend a school with in house residencies may not have much of an impact because you will be competing against a much larger pool and the games will be different. Basing your decision on which school to attend based off of how many programs the school's OPTI has is just silly.

It totally matters... especially if you are thinking about something competitive. You can potentially rotate with and around these programs for 2 years. If you don't think that helps then I don't know what to say... no the ties won't be quite as strong as a true home program like at PCOM, MSU, OSU, etc. But it will most definitely help, and is something to consider when considering two schools of around equal quality.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

Doesn't matter. Just because the accreditation agency has changed, the hospital and it's long-standing reputation with their students hasn't. The Program Director is the same as well. And I think it does make a difference. Look at the match list for schools like PCOM and NYIT that have their own OPTI's vs. schools that don't. You will see that the schools that have their own OPTI's have many of their own students matching into their programs. And the way residencies work also is very biased in that if a certain program has received residents from a particular medical school and like them, they will generally continue to accept students from that program.

Also, another point to make is that the OPTI does matter because the same places that have the residencies set up are where students do their core rotations for 3rd year. So if I go to a school that has let's say an Ortho Surg residency setup, then rotate at that hospital my 3rd year, I have increased my chances of matching there for residency if I display myself well and network with the staff. And for the staff if they like you and know your work vs. another applicant applying out of state, who would they rather take? Of course it could backfire if you're NOT a good student as well, but you get what I mean.

That would work in an ideal world but DO schools are so large and so bloated now that it doesn't work that way. Maybe in the past it worked that way but it doesn't anymore because of just how many more students there are now.
Just to give one example, Rocky Vista has only 1 small general surgery program in its OPTI. With the logic that you presented above, they would place very very few students in that specialty because they wouldn't be rotating in home programs, etc. etc. But, on the contrary, they have placed more DO students in sub-specialty programs per capita than any other DO school. If you look at NYIT's ortho residencies, for example, you will probably see 1 NYIT student for every 4 outside student. Another example, I don't think Western's ortho program in nor cal has taken a Western grad in the past 2 years, maybe more despite Western students having a rotation preference.
Take it from a second year who is literally IN the process right now. Things are changing. Program directors have much less of an association with schools and many of these OPTI's are losing their leverage over hospitals after the merger. Many OPTI's weren't even granted institutional accreditation (including NYITCOM's OPTI) and the whole idea of why we are even spending money funding OPTIs in a post-merger world is in debate now. A PD (DO or MD) would take a DO student from Creutzfeldt-Jakob COM in Anchorage, Alaska if he had higher board scores and a stronger resume than the PCOM grad because, with the merger, he knows his job is on the line if his program doesn't get a 100% pass on the national licencing exams. In the past, rotations had a huge impact but, again, there are too too many students now and now that programs are shrinking in size because of the new ACGME rules, program pass rates are a much bigger worry in PD's minds than if they recruit students from "Old 5" schools or their home students.

OP: You really don't know what things are going to look like in 4 years. Just go to the school you seem to like more in the area you think you would enjoy more. No one knows for a fact what the GME climate will look like in 4 years but what we do now is that things are changing and, whatever the changes are, it's too early for you to worry about them now.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

That would work in an ideal world but DO schools are so large and so bloated now that it doesn't work that way. Maybe in the past it worked that way but it doesn't anymore because of just how many more students there are now.
Just to give one example, Rocky Vista has only 1 small general surgery program in its OPTI. With the logic that you presented above, they would place very very few students in that specialty because they wouldn't be rotating in home programs, etc. etc. But, on the contrary, they have placed more DO students in sub-specialty programs per capita than any other DO school. If you look at NYIT's ortho residencies, for example, you will probably see 1 NYIT student for every 4 outside student. Another example, I don't think Western's ortho program in nor cal has taken a Western grad in the past 2 years, maybe more despite Western students having a rotation preference.
Take it from a second year who is literally IN the process right now. Things are changing. Program directors have much less of an association with schools and many of these OPTI's are losing their leverage over hospitals after the merger. Many OPTI's weren't even granted institutional accreditation (including NYITCOM's OPTI) and the whole idea of why we are even spending money funding OPTIs in a post-merger world is in debate now. A PD (DO or MD) would take a DO student from Creutzfeldt-Jakob COM in Anchorage, Alaska if he had higher board scores and a stronger resume than the PCOM grad because, with the merger, he knows his job is on the line if his program doesn't get a 100% pass on the national licencing exams. In the past, rotations had a huge impact but, again, there are too too many students now and now that programs are shrinking in size because of the new ACGME rules, program pass rates are a much bigger worry in PD's minds than if they recruit students from "Old 5" schools or their home students.

OP: You really don't know what things are going to look like in 4 years. Just go to the school you seem to like more in the area you think you would enjoy more. No one knows for a fact what the GME climate will look like in 4 years but what we do now is that things are changing and, whatever the changes are, it's too early for you to worry about them now.

This is something I don't understand. Wouldn't an OPTI site have obligation to a certain school's students considering the school is funding it? Why would a school invest in something that doesn't directly benefit it? Sure, you could argue development of any residency slots indirectly benefit students...but how are schools not able to leverage the relationship? OPTIs confuse the **** out of me.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Take it from a second year who is literally IN the process right now. Things are changing.

Lol why are you lying bro? Gunners gonna gun I guess.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

This is something I don't understand. Wouldn't an OPTI site have obligation to a certain school's students considering the school is funding it? Why would a school invest in something that doesn't directly benefit it? Sure, you could argue development of any residency slots indirectly benefit students...but how are schools not able to leverage the relationship? OPTIs confuse the **** out of me.

OPTIs are usually composed of a few doctors and a lawyer or two and a bunch of administrators who are supposed to help hospitals open up new residency spots. It's a COCA requirement to have an OPTI but we have seen in recent years that some schools (like MUCOM, Touro NY, Touro CA/NV, etc.) just "buy into" an OPTI by paying an existing OPTI to include them so they can meet COCA recruitments. So, like everything else in medicine, lots of $$$ involved. I think MUCOM pays MSUCOM's OPTI close to $150k a year for membership. Meanwhile, MUCOM will be graduating its first class in a few months without opening 1 residency spot in the state. Not 1. So of course the ACGME is looking at these with suspicion that they are not meeting the goals they were initially set up for and not granting "institutional accreditation" to these OPTIs. How can NYITCOM's OPTI, which already has to the beat the burden of maintaining its current programs and opening up new programs for the other two Touro campuses, possibly ensure that hospitals in Jobosboro, Arkansas are meeting accreditation requirements? So instead hospitals are applying for "institutional accreditation" instead of OPTIs and PDs are left doing most of the paperwork. This is more of a problem with "consortium" programs (which most DO surgery programs are) where students rotate at a half dozen hospitals over the years. The ACGME doesn't really know how many of these community hospitals need to spend the money to send in an application and that's why many DO surgery and subspecialty programs that follow this "consortium" model are in limbo now.
tl;dr it's very complicated and PDs/programs have a significantly weaker relationship with COMs than in the past.

 

[68PGunner]

That would work in an ideal world but DO schools are so large and so bloated now that it doesn't work that way. Maybe in the past it worked that way but it doesn't anymore because of just how many more students there are now.
Just to give one example, Rocky Vista has only 1 small general surgery program in its OPTI. With the logic that you presented above, they would place very very few students in that specialty because they wouldn't be rotating in home programs, etc. etc. But, on the contrary, they have placed more DO students in sub-specialty programs per capita than any other DO school. If you look at NYIT's ortho residencies, for example, you will probably see 1 NYIT student for every 4 outside student. Another example, I don't think Western's ortho program in nor cal has taken a Western grad in the past 2 years, maybe more despite Western students having a rotation preference.
Take it from a second year who is literally IN the process right now. Things are changing. Program directors have much less of an association with schools and many of these OPTI's are losing their leverage over hospitals after the merger. Many OPTI's weren't even granted institutional accreditation (including NYITCOM's OPTI) and the whole idea of why we are even spending money funding OPTIs in a post-merger world is in debate now. A PD (DO or MD) would take a DO student from Creutzfeldt-Jakob COM in Anchorage, Alaska if he had higher board scores and a stronger resume than the PCOM grad because, with the merger, he knows his job is on the line if his program doesn't get a 100% pass on the national licencing exams. In the past, rotations had a huge impact but, again, there are too too many students now and now that programs are shrinking in size because of the new ACGME rules, program pass rates are a much bigger worry in PD's minds than if they recruit students from "Old 5" schools or their home students.

OP: You really don't know what things are going to look like in 4 years. Just go to the school you seem to like more in the area you think you would enjoy more. No one knows for a fact what the GME climate will look like in 4 years but what we do now is that things are changing and, whatever the changes are, it's too early for you to worry about them now.

Any experienced PD would know that there is more to passing a specialty exam than Step 1 score. There have been many cases of high Step students dropping out of residencies bc they lack the intangibles and passion for the field.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

OPTIs are usually composed of a few doctors and a lawyer or two and a bunch of administrators who are supposed to help hospitals open up new residency spots. It's a COCA requirement to have an OPTI but we have seen in recent years that some schools (like MUCOM, Touro NY, Touro CA/NV, etc.) just "buy into" an OPTI by paying an existing OPTI to include them so they can meet COCA recruitments. So, like everything else in medicine, lots of $$$ involved. I think MUCOM pays MSUCOM's OPTI close to $150k a year for membership. Meanwhile, MUCOM will be graduating its first class in a few months without opening 1 residency spot in the state. Not 1. So of course the ACGME is looking at these with suspicion that they are not meeting the goals they were initially set up for and not granting "institutional accreditation" to these OPTIs. How can NYITCOM's OPTI, which already has to the beat the burden of maintaining its current programs and opening up new programs for the other two Touro campuses, possibly ensure that hospitals in Jobosboro, Arkansas are meeting accreditation requirements? So instead hospitals are applying for "institutional accreditation" instead of OPTIs and PDs are left doing most of the paperwork. This is more of a problem with "consortium" programs (which most DO surgery programs are) where students rotate at a half dozen hospitals over the years. The ACGME doesn't really know how many of these community hospitals need to spend the money to send in an application and that's why many DO surgery and subspecialty programs that follow this "consortium" model are in limbo now.
tl;dr it's very complicated and PDs/programs have a significantly weaker relationship with COMs than in the past.

So are you saying the ACGME is disallowing OPTIs from being the institutional accreditors of these surgery residency consortiums?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So are you saying the ACGME is disallowing OPTIs from being the institutional accreditors of these surgery residency consortiums?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

For the record, the consortium model is not the issue. A number of current ACGME programs do things the same way, they usually have a main hospital and then do some rotations at other sites. The main hospitals are becoming the institutional sponsors of the residency programs they espouse instead of the respective OPTIs. The OPTIs themselves are having a hard time gaining institutional sponsor status, this has nothing to do with which field the residency programs are in.

 

[MADD!!!]

That would work in an ideal world but DO schools are so large and so bloated now that it doesn't work that way. Maybe in the past it worked that way but it doesn't anymore because of just how many more students there are now.
Just to give one example, Rocky Vista has only 1 small general surgery program in its OPTI. With the logic that you presented above, they would place very very few students in that specialty because they wouldn't be rotating in home programs, etc. etc. But, on the contrary, they have placed more DO students in sub-specialty programs per capita than any other DO school. If you look at NYIT's ortho residencies, for example, you will probably see 1 NYIT student for every 4 outside student. Another example, I don't think Western's ortho program in nor cal has taken a Western grad in the past 2 years, maybe more despite Western students having a rotation preference.
Take it from a second year who is literally IN the process right now. Things are changing. Program directors have much less of an association with schools and many of these OPTI's are losing their leverage over hospitals after the merger. Many OPTI's weren't even granted institutional accreditation (including NYITCOM's OPTI) and the whole idea of why we are even spending money funding OPTIs in a post-merger world is in debate now. A PD (DO or MD) would take a DO student from Creutzfeldt-Jakob COM in Anchorage, Alaska if he had higher board scores and a stronger resume than the PCOM grad because, with the merger, he knows his job is on the line if his program doesn't get a 100% pass on the national licencing exams. In the past, rotations had a huge impact but, again, there are too too many students now and now that programs are shrinking in size because of the new ACGME rules, program pass rates are a much bigger worry in PD's minds than if they recruit students from "Old 5" schools or their home students.

OP: You really don't know what things are going to look like in 4 years. Just go to the school you seem to like more in the area you think you would enjoy more. No one knows for a fact what the GME climate will look like in 4 years but what we do now is that things are changing and, whatever the changes are, it's too early for you to worry about them now.

I really appreciate this. A new perspective to consider. Thank you for sharing

@Ioannes Paulus

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

For the record, the consortium model is not the issue. A number of current ACGME programs do things the same way, they usually have a main hospital and then do some rotations at other sites. The main hospitals are becoming the institutional sponsors of the residency programs they espouse instead of the respective OPTIs. The OPTIs themselves are having a hard time gaining institutional sponsor status, this has nothing to do with which field the residency programs are in.

Exactly. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Nothing to do with programs but more to do with the schools and how these OPTIs are set up. It's a COCA requirement right now but I personally don't see them having any power/control after 2019.

One of the programs that my school's OPTI used to sponsor requested to be opted out of the OPTI after the OPTI got institutional sponsor status (or whatever the technical term is now) because they thought they'd attract stronger candidates and they didn't want osteopathic recognition. The COM/OPTI couldn't do anything about it and let it go.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Exactly. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Nothing to do with programs but more to do with the schools and how these OPTIs are set up. It's a COCA requirement right now but I personally don't see them having any power/control after 2019.

One of the programs that my school's OPTI used to sponsor requested to be opted out of the OPTI after the OPTI got institutional sponsor status (or whatever the technical term is now) because they thought they'd attract stronger candidates and they didn't want osteopathic recognition. The COM/OPTI couldn't do anything about it and let it go.

Yeah I wish the schools themselves would sponsor these residency programs, alas the money just isn't there for that to happen.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Yeah I wish the schools themselves would sponsor these residency programs, alas the money just isn't there for that to happen.

Sorry, just trying to make sure I grasp it all. Font schools sponsor residency programs financially through OPTIs?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[MADD!!!]

Exactly. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Nothing to do with programs but more to do with the schools and how these OPTIs are set up. It's a COCA requirement right now but I personally don't see them having any power/control after 2019.

One of the programs that my school's OPTI used to sponsor requested to be opted out of the OPTI after the OPTI got institutional sponsor status (or whatever the technical term is now) because they thought they'd attract stronger candidates and they didn't want osteopathic recognition. The COM/OPTI couldn't do anything about it and let it go.

Ouchhh. I still think regionally it's very different. West coast could care less about DO's but the mid-west and east coast have come a much farther way. Some bias still exists but it's much less than how it is in the west coast.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

Sorry, just trying to make sure I grasp it all. Font schools sponsor residency programs financially through OPTIs?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

In the past, yes. Not anymore. Exceptions exist but individual hospitals now carry a greater share of the burden of opening up/maintaining programs (which is very, VERY unfair to these community docs, IMO)
OPTI are supposed to help hospitals with paperwork and accreditation but, like I explained below, very few of these OPTI themselves have the accreditation to do that. They've become useless bureaucracies which is why I said that there is a discussion within the AOA about whether OPTIs should exist in a post-merger world.