In the regular outside world everyone knows medicine as "medicine," osteopathy in the US is understood to be "osteopathic medicine" and so on. Why is the inaccurate and derogatory term "allopathy" then used to refer to our profession? It could be construed as an attempt at political correctness but in fact is damaging when used in a set of forums geared to the young and less informed candidates as they enter the maze of modern pre-medical and medical education.
Several links for the perplexed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allopathic_medicine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
The term was created by homeopaths, and apparently perpetuated by OMT-centered osteopaths for public relations purposes to refer to modern, science based medicine as "relieving symptoms, not disease."
Science, or evidence-based medicine - the M.D. is just that, and not bound by unalterable dogma as the proponents of the term "allopathy" were.
Conversely, many sites refer to osteopathic medicine as a "holistic approach," but the reality is that our D.O colleagues rightfully emphasize how the only difference between the formal training of an M.D. and D.O. is a class on osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) - and this is generally true. Other differences, such as non-uniformity of clinical training and mandatory AOA membership are more circumstantial and arguably not one wished for by many D.Os. A holistic approach is something all modern education of health sciences has moved towards becoming, it's pretty much the essence of "Family Practice" as a specialty - regardless of whether accredited by the ACGME or AOA.
Could we then please discontinue to perpetuate the inaccurate and derogatory term "allopathy" in a site where your hopefuls who are not yet exposed to the entire world as it really exists and refer to our professions by accurate and non-derogatory terms?
Please relabel the websites terms "Allopathic" to "Medicine" or "Medical" and "Pre-allopathic" to "Pre-medical."
While at it, the term "mid-levels" in this site was replaced by "Clinicians" - another misnomer, as the term refers to anyone from an LPN through M.D. and everyone in between, when in the forums it refers specifically to PAs, NPs and RNs.
"Clinicians" should be accurately renamed to "Physician Assistant, Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners." Those are legitimate professions and there's no need to obfuscate who they are. They are also clearly understood as "Mid-Level Healthcare Professions" by the world at large. there is nothing derogatory in the use of a clear, accurate term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinician
Thank you.
Several links for the perplexed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allopathic_medicine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
The term was created by homeopaths, and apparently perpetuated by OMT-centered osteopaths for public relations purposes to refer to modern, science based medicine as "relieving symptoms, not disease."
Science, or evidence-based medicine - the M.D. is just that, and not bound by unalterable dogma as the proponents of the term "allopathy" were.
Conversely, many sites refer to osteopathic medicine as a "holistic approach," but the reality is that our D.O colleagues rightfully emphasize how the only difference between the formal training of an M.D. and D.O. is a class on osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) - and this is generally true. Other differences, such as non-uniformity of clinical training and mandatory AOA membership are more circumstantial and arguably not one wished for by many D.Os. A holistic approach is something all modern education of health sciences has moved towards becoming, it's pretty much the essence of "Family Practice" as a specialty - regardless of whether accredited by the ACGME or AOA.
Could we then please discontinue to perpetuate the inaccurate and derogatory term "allopathy" in a site where your hopefuls who are not yet exposed to the entire world as it really exists and refer to our professions by accurate and non-derogatory terms?
Please relabel the websites terms "Allopathic" to "Medicine" or "Medical" and "Pre-allopathic" to "Pre-medical."
While at it, the term "mid-levels" in this site was replaced by "Clinicians" - another misnomer, as the term refers to anyone from an LPN through M.D. and everyone in between, when in the forums it refers specifically to PAs, NPs and RNs.
"Clinicians" should be accurately renamed to "Physician Assistant, Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners." Those are legitimate professions and there's no need to obfuscate who they are. They are also clearly understood as "Mid-Level Healthcare Professions" by the world at large. there is nothing derogatory in the use of a clear, accurate term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinician
Thank you.