people need a DO enlightenment

[dr.kicia]

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We all, on this forum, know that overall public sometimes is not aware what a DO is. But when you meet the health professionals who confuse osteopathic medicine with ....gee it makes me laugh till now...chiropractic practice (yeah i am assuming this is due to the OSTEO-prefix but still)...then that's it. I was blown away today(and not in a possitive way).

So...i am volunteering in ER. Today was very slow so one of the nurses came up to me for a little chit chat. We chit and chat and all of the sudden she pops the question (very much expected) if i am in school etc. So i tell her blah blah and then I mention i will be going to med school. She asks me which one and i tell her that i hope CCOM....her eyes are like this ....> 😱 so...i real fast corect myslef assuming that maybe she doesn't know whcih school that is and give her a word that should ring the bell ----> osteopathic...UNfortunatelly id didn't seem to ring any bells for her...but rather makes her go into an unforgettable question followed by even more unforgettable statement: "Oh, really? Well, i am too skinny and weak for osteo. I wouldn't be able to do it?"
Now I am like 😱 looking at the pediatric ER doctor who is filling some papers right by....i am even more 😱 as i notice DO on that doctor's coat...
What a world....🙄

 

[jkhamlin]

We all, on this forum, know that overall public sometimes is not aware what a DO is. But when you meet the health professionals who confuse osteopathic medicine with ....gee it makes me laugh till now...chiropractic practice (yeah i am assuming this is due to the OSTEO-prefix but still)...then that's it. I was blown away today(and not in a possitive way).

No offense to Chiros, but the following might be enlightening:
Chiropractic was invented by a man named Daniel David Palmer who was a magnetic healer, snake oil salesman extraordinare, and coincidentally 🙄 a patient of Andrew Taylor Still, MD. Somehow, after just coincidentally being a patient of the founder of Osteopathy, Mr. Palmer just managed to pull the concept of manipulative therapy out of... well, nowhere.

 

[med-i-cal]

We all, on this forum, know that overall public sometimes is not aware what a DO is. But when you meet the health professionals who confuse osteopathic medicine with ....gee it makes me laugh till now...chiropractic practice (yeah i am assuming this is due to the OSTEO-prefix but still)...then that's it. I was blown away today(and not in a possitive way).

So...i am volunteering in ER. Today was very slow so one of the nurses came up to me for a little chit chat. We chit and chat and all of the sudden she pops the question (very much expected) if i am in school etc. So i tell her blah blah and then I mention i will be going to med school. She asks me which one and i tell her that i hope CCOM....her eyes are like this ....> 😱 so...i real fast corect myslef assuming that maybe she doesn't know whcih school that is and give her a word that should ring the bell ----> osteopathic...UNfortunatelly id didn't seem to ring any bells for her...but rather makes her go into an unforgettable question followed by even more unforgettable statement: "Oh, really? Well, i am too skinny and weak for osteo. I wouldn't be able to do it?"
Now I am like 😱 looking at the pediatric ER doctor who is filling some papers right by....i am even more 😱 as i notice DO on that doctor's coat...
What a world....🙄

It kind of sounds like she may have thought you meant "Ortho" and not "Chiro." Just trying to think of a way to give her the benefit of the doubt here.

I can't think of any pre-chiro students that have volunteered at an ER...

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Get used to the explaining. You will be doing a lot of it.

 

[dr.kicia]

Get used to the explaining. You will be doing a lot of it.

i didn't even try to explain she thought that "osteo" prefix refers to something with bones...and the funny thing is that she takes orders from a DO on a daily basis. I guess they do not really pay attention to what is after your name once you are a doctor.

As far as i know need for explaining doesn't happen that often.
Al leats from what i have seen. I am shadowing a DO and none of his patients ever asked about DO after his name. I even asked a few and they were totally unaware of him being a DO....he is just a doctor to them...

But as for a nurse who has no clue what a DO is(i mentioned to her both "osteopathic" and "DO"...it appears none of these were familiar to her )....well that is a totally different story.🙄

 

[MaximusD]

i didn't even try to explain she thought that "osteo" prefix refers to something with bones...and the funny thing is that she takes orders from a DO on a daily basis. I guess they do not really pay attention to what is after your name once you are a doctor.

As far as i know need for explaining doesn't happen that often.
Al leats from what i have seen. I am shadowing a DO and none of his patients ever asked about DO after his name. I even asked a few and they were totally unaware of him being a DO....he is just a doctor to them...

But as for a nurse who has no clue what a DO is(i mentioned to her both "osteopathic" and "DO"...it appears none of these were familiar to her )....well that is a totally different story.🙄

Exactly.. I wouldn't be surprised if she knew what DO was but not Osteopathy... it's possible that she knows that a DO is a doctor but does not know that it stands for Doctor of Osteopath(ic Medicine)y

 

[MJB]

I want that nurse...seriously. 🙂

 

[Orthonut]

Here's a question for you (I figure, come to the source?)

I know what DOs can do, I think they're great, etc etc etc....

but what about my unenlightened colleagues/friends, or my whackitron in-laws? I don't think I do a very good job 'splaining, where can I send them for The Answer?

(I know, I post here sometimes but *shhh* I'm a dvm student *shock* I just like to read about what y'all are doing, hope you don't mind me popping in)

 

[CatsandCradles]

We all, on this forum, know that overall public sometimes is not aware what a DO is. But when you meet the health professionals who confuse osteopathic medicine with ....gee it makes me laugh till now...chiropractic practice (yeah i am assuming this is due to the OSTEO-prefix but still)...then that's it. I was blown away today(and not in a possitive way).

So...i am volunteering in ER. Today was very slow so one of the nurses came up to me for a little chit chat. We chit and chat and all of the sudden she pops the question (very much expected) if i am in school etc. So i tell her blah blah and then I mention i will be going to med school. She asks me which one and i tell her that i hope CCOM....her eyes are like this ....> 😱 so...i real fast corect myslef assuming that maybe she doesn't know whcih school that is and give her a word that should ring the bell ----> osteopathic...UNfortunatelly id didn't seem to ring any bells for her...but rather makes her go into an unforgettable question followed by even more unforgettable statement: "Oh, really? Well, i am too skinny and weak for osteo. I wouldn't be able to do it?"
Now I am like 😱 looking at the pediatric ER doctor who is filling some papers right by....i am even more 😱 as i notice DO on that doctor's coat...
What a world....🙄

That such a funny story dr kicia🙂 🙂

It's like the one where one physcian went to a medical conference and at the table with all the name tags it said "John DO Smith M.D."

They thought the DO was part of the guy's middle name or something

Or when Newsweek Magazine with the front cover saying "Hero MD" when in fact he was a DO.

It's so funny some times

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Chiropractic was invented by a man named Daniel David Palmer who was a magnetic healer, snake oil salesman extraordinare.

Daniel David.
That just teaches me never to trust a person with two first names.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Daniel David.
That just teaches me never to trust a person with two first names.

Oh, I am ROYALLY screwed, then.

My first, middle, & last are all respectable first names.