Put DO's on TV Campaign

[delicatefade]

So, how many of you MS-1's (or OMS-1's ) noticed the preprinted colorful cards to send in to our TV executives to convince them to put DO's on shows like ER.

What do you think??? Personally, this is one of the most asinine things I have ever seen. I'm noticing that the AOA is more and more like people say every day.

What do you think is going to happen to those cards when they reach the desk of NBC or CBS??? Personally, if I was a TV exec, I wouldn't even bother reading something that a person didn't even bother to write himself. I really wish the AOA would spend some time on other things.

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[doyoda2004]

What's disturbing is that this "ad campaign" is the thrust of NOM month. It seems to me that we could have this month devoted to osteopathic medicine be more than a post-card campaign. It sounds kind of bogus to me!!

Back to studying.

 

[Green912]

On one hand I'd like to give the AOA some credit for recognizing and trying to do something about the lack of DO recognition nationally. While a TV campaign has the potential to reach a huge number of people, at very little cost, it also carries an equally large risk of misunderstanding. Essentially we're asking people in the entertainment industry to educate the public as to what a DO is. I see a lot of potential for confusion and the risk of backfire.

 

[Boomer]

On one hand I'd like to give the AOA some credit for recognizing and trying to do something about the lack of DO recognition nationally. While a TV campaign has the potential to reach a huge number of people, at very little cost, it also carries an equally large risk of misunderstanding. Essentially we're asking people in the entertainment industry to educate the public as to what a DO is. I see a lot of potential for confusion and the risk of backfire.

What's wrong with entertainers educating the public? They already serve in this capacity for the Democratic party anyway.....and it seems to work....

Anyway, this is truly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Let's write to ER and suggest a way to incorporate a DO, when one of the technical advisors to the show IS a DO. Man, I tell ya. Insane.....

 

[Green912]

Paging Dr. achy breaky

 

[DeLaughterDO]

I would have to agree - I think there are so many things the AOA needs to focus on, rather than getting D.O.s on television. Or at least if they are going to do that, make it something worthwhile - not ER or the Young and the Restless...

Get real.. do it right - make an infomercial!

jd

 

[applicant2002]

this is what so perplexes me.

almost unanimously, everybody i've met rolls their eyes at these cards.

also, have you met anyone who seriously reads the JAOA and looks at it with much respect?

i read the articles only occassionally when once in a great while there is a legitimate article on OMT or something else. most i know toss it when it reaches their hands.

i would think the people at a school (attendings and students alike) would make up a good representation of opinion of the osteopathic community.

but apparently, our "official" publications represent and are respected by so few of us. something's just not right with this picture.

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[DrMom]

i would think the people at a school (attendings and students alike) would make up a good representation of opinion of the osteopathic community.

So...when we get out there practicing, we need to be involved. Better yet...get involved now. Be a class officer, SOMA officer, or otherwise involved with student government at your school. Apply for AOA committee positions. Talk with the involved physicians in your community and get their input on how you can be involved.


*edit* boy I said "involved" way too many times

 

[stoic]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is no incentive for show writers/execs to put DO's on TV because there isn't an interesting reason to bring up the differences. This is particuarly true now that there is so little difference in the practice of medicine by DO's and MD's. The only storyline I see coming from something like this is "watch the poor osteopath struggle against MD oppression." It's not the image we want.

If you want to make a difference, use John Smith, D.O. on your white coat and in your phone book adds instead of Dr. Johm Smith. Use OMM in your practice (the stuff that works, not the crazy bull****). When your parents, friends, and patients ask about what DO means, tell them. Work hard, get into great allopathic residencies and show your coworkers that DO's are just as qualified as MD's (though most of them will probably already know this).

 

[cooldreams]

Paging Dr. achy breaky

MULLET ALERT!!!!

 

[LukeWhite]

The problem with the AOA is the same with any minority group--those who aren't overly concerned with highlighting differences devote their energy to practice, while those who *are* overly concerned with highlighting the differences rise in the hierarchy.

EG: OMM departments. Perhaps this is only true at AZCOM, but I doubt it. The OMM doctors, as a group, are far more removed from what some impolitic folks would call reality. From the hierarchically-arranged professional portrait photos on the lab wall to the repeated chastisings for whispering during the dimmed-lights Palpation of the Day, all that's missing is the cyanide-flavored Kool-Aid. The doctors not focused on OMM, by contrast, seem more or less normal, and perhaps not coincidentally, teach a lot better.

And so with the AOA. Those with the most passion for osteopathy will rise to the top of the ranks. Unfortunately, passion and other fine qualities like circumspection and objectivity tend not to correlate well. I'm a little skeptical that the AOA will be changed with "new blood," as some suggest...there are plenty of crazy-rah-rah-osteopaths at every school to easily fill every AOA position for years to come.

 

[jhug]

I think there are so many things the AOA needs to focus on, rather than getting D.O.s on television.

yea, like having as many residency spots as graduating students....
well said stoic,
and LAW, i'm beginning to fear what you said more and more...i always hoped that by having people without the late 1800 mindset things would improve...but you are right, there are enough that want to hold on to that to fill that great building in chicago!!!

 

[Robz]

Anyway, this is truly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Let's write to ER and suggest a way to incorporate a DO, when one of the technical advisors to the show IS a DO. Man, I tell ya. Insane.....

Hmmmmmmmmm. They represent medicine so well on that show.....tanks rolling down the roads....helicopters not only cutting of the hand of a surgeon but then crashing on him the next year....and a patient killing a medical student and hurting another doctor. I can imagine the story lines they will play with this one.


I still say the best bet is real shows like ER:Trauma, Super Surgeries, or any type of documentary on DO's and medicine.

I fear for some of the same reasons that others do. I worry that drama shows will turn us into a mix of doctors with chiropractic abilities. Oh....that statement alone bothers me in a small way.....anyway I feel that these drama shows would confuse the public more than educate it. If we are not portrayed as normal physicians and very competant than it could turn badly as a mass media campaign.

Anyway, most of the world doesn't care as long as your a good doctor....I think the amount of DO's graduating now versus 10 years ago will slowly educate people too without trying to go mainstream.

 

[sophiejane]

I totally agree. If everyone who thinks this is an idiotic and truly embarassing campaign would write to the AOA and tell them so, maybe they would get the message.

I just shudder when they do stuff like this. I mean, a LETTER WRTING campaign for TV programming? Don't we have better things to do? Like make sick people better, for example?

 

[Wahoowa]

What?!?!?! Do they want them to show doctors doing manipulation on TV????

This is one area where the AOA has failed and the AMA has succeeded. Does the AOA even have a public relations department?? The AOA is not aggressive enough about getting the word out about DO's and what they bring to the table. Osteopathic medicine has been around for over one hundred years; it is not like the opportunity has not been present. I think that this would make Dr. Still very frustrated. The interest in OMM is telling also; out of almost two hundred students in my graduating class, I didn't hear of anyone matching into an OMM residency.

There is too much time spent on concentrating on the differences between MD's and DO's. This whole business that DO's treat the "whole" patient and that MD's don't just doesn't wash. In fact, having worked with mostly MD's I have found the opposite to be true. Because the osteopathic profession touts the differences, it has turned down numerous offers from the allopathic community to combine COMLEX and USMLE to make one set of national boards exams. Because of this, instead of three rounds of boards I have to take six to get to where I want to go. Not to mention that there are many MD's trying to learn manipulation to incorporate it into their practices.

The AOA needs to use its money to get the word out about the DO profession and how it has evolved with medicine and let the public know what we do. It also needs to support needed research. Research brings recongnition and money to the cause. We are not much different from the MD's. AOA needs to stop concentrating on the differences--this slows the progression of medicine by producing some rift between MD/DO. Figure out how MD's and DO's can coalesce to forward fruitful patient care. Further, the AOA needs to stop relying on prime time shows to do the work that public relations should be doing.

 

[LukeWhite]

To the contrary, Wahoowa...the AOA spends way too much money getting the word out. In fact, that seems to be more or less all it does. Heaven knows it's not putting its time into developing quality residencies or weeding out the vestiges of quack medicine that still plague osteopathy at its fringes and its cultlike core. Too much talking, too little doing.

As for the boards, I'm not sure I can swallow that argument...you don't have to take six boards, and in fact almost no one does. Plenty of people take USMLE along with COMLEX (almost always to get a competitive residency--you don't *need* USMLE as a DO applying for many of the less competitive allopathic residencies), but far fewer DO students take USMLE 2, and almost no one (~60/yr) take USMLE 3.

Nor would it be good if the boards were integrated. Judging by osteopathic performance on the USMLE, about 30% would fail, and 15-20% would never pass. of course, if osteopathic schools taught to the USMLE, this would be different, but I still can't help but think that there are some osteopathic students who will be doctors who would not be if they had to take the USMLE.

All in all, it's not the public that cares; the public lets its bureaucracy do the work. What problems osteopathy faces in acceptance are institutional, and increasingly self-inflicted as the AOA seems willing to trade full and true acceptance for a notion of identity that is, to put it politely, overly enthusiastic.

 

[Wahoowa]

To the contrary, Wahoowa...the AOA spends way too much money getting the word out. In fact, that seems to be more or less all it does. Heaven knows it's not putting its time into developing quality residencies or weeding out the vestiges of quack medicine that still plague osteopathy at its fringes and its cultlike core. Too much talking, too little doing.

As for the boards, I'm not sure I can swallow that argument...you don't have to take six boards, and in fact almost no one does. Plenty of people take USMLE along with COMLEX (almost always to get a competitive residency--you don't *need* USMLE as a DO applying for many of the less competitive allopathic residencies), but far fewer DO students take USMLE 2, and almost no one (~60/yr) take USMLE 3.

Nor would it be good if the boards were integrated. Judging by osteopathic performance on the USMLE, about 30% would fail, and 15-20% would never pass. of course, if osteopathic schools taught to the USMLE, this would be different, but I still can't help but think that there are some osteopathic students who will be doctors who would not be if they had to take the USMLE.

All in all, it's not the public that cares; the public lets its bureaucracy do the work. What problems osteopathy faces in acceptance are institutional, and increasingly self-inflicted as the AOA seems willing to trade full and true acceptance for a notion of identity that is, to put it politely, overly enthusiastic.

That is disconcerting. If the AOA is spending so much money on getting the word out it is not working. Maybe they need to hire a PR professional. There are too many people that are misinformed about osteopathic medicine if they know about it at all. The quality of the residency program is all in the leadership.

As far as your boards argument, you are right--I only take five rounds. I took USMLE steps I and II to get a competitive allopathic anesthesiology residency. Most of the people in my class took USMLE. Last time I studied it, biochem, genetics, anatomy, pharm, micro, etc., were the same sciences whether they are taught in a PhD, MS, MD, or a DO program. Further, the clinical sciences without OMM do not differ, we use the same drugs and treatments and are required by law to meet the same standards of care as MD's.

The proposals for combined boards included clauses for the osteopathic side to incorporate OMM into the exam taken by DO candidates/DO's. It sounds to me like you are assuming that the allopathic side would write the exams; test writers were to be combined from both sides since we are not taught different basic sciences or clinical sciences. Besides, how well you do on the boards depends on how well prepared you are to take them.

 

[jhug]

Last time I studied it, biochem, genetics, anatomy, pharm, micro, etc., were the same sciences whether they are taught in a PhD, MS, MD, or a DO program

well, yes and no...(sorry to sound so kerry-ish)
the material hasn't changed...but the two tests are different in the way they test our comprehension of that material.
what do you all think of this idea...could it be that in the prime of those running the aoa (20+ys ago) that DO's weren't really look upon as equals...yada,yada,yada...so now we have the bitter, chip-on-the-shoulder types running the org. trying to seek justice/compensation for what they had to go through? True, it's not OUR battle anymore...it's old, over, done, gone...but these guys just can't let go...so they are dedicated to being as uncooperative as possibe??
one last thought...why is the aoa not hitting up pre-meds...that is where the real misconception starts (and pretty much ends) Premeds are some of the most ignorant (and vocal) people when it comes to DO's, why not spend millions educating pre-med counselors, visiting schools, and pushing the DO idea to those who will someday decide whether or not to become DO's...

 

[sophiejane]

What?!?!?! Do they want them to show doctors doing manipulation on TV????

This is one area where the AOA has failed and the AMA has succeeded. Does the AOA even have a public relations department?? The AOA is not aggressive enough about getting the word out about DO's and what they bring to the table. Osteopathic medicine has been around for over one hundred years; it is not like the opportunity has not been present. I think that this would make Dr. Still very frustrated. The interest in OMM is telling also; out of almost two hundred students in my graduating class, I didn't hear of anyone matching into an OMM residency.

There is too much time spent on concentrating on the differences between MD's and DO's. This whole business that DO's treat the "whole" patient and that MD's don't just doesn't wash. In fact, having worked with mostly MD's I have found the opposite to be true. Because the osteopathic profession touts the differences, it has turned down numerous offers from the allopathic community to combine COMLEX and USMLE to make one set of national boards exams. Because of this, instead of three rounds of boards I have to take six to get to where I want to go. Not to mention that there are many MD's trying to learn manipulation to incorporate it into their practices.

The AOA needs to use its money to get the word out about the DO profession and how it has evolved with medicine and let the public know what we do. It also needs to support needed research. Research brings recongnition and money to the cause. We are not much different from the MD's. AOA needs to stop concentrating on the differences--this slows the progression of medicine by producing some rift between MD/DO. Figure out how MD's and DO's can coalesce to forward fruitful patient care. Further, the AOA needs to stop relying on prime time shows to do the work that public relations should be doing.

Please send this to the AOA. Actually, I might just copy and paste some of this thread and send it myself.

Anyone who wants to opt out and have me not use their comments speak now. It will be anonymous, of course.

 

[gioia]

What do you propose we do about the aforementioned situation?

Do any of you think advertising is important?

 

[cooldreams]

yes i dont think my post above is quite appropriate for that

 

[dkwyler94]

To the contrary, Wahoowa...the AOA spends way too much money getting the word out. In fact, that seems to be more or less all it does. Heaven knows it's not putting its time into developing quality residencies or weeding out the vestiges of quack medicine that still plague osteopathy at its fringes and its cultlike core. Too much talking, too little doing.

As for the boards, I'm not sure I can swallow that argument...you don't have to take six boards, and in fact almost no one does. Plenty of people take USMLE along with COMLEX (almost always to get a competitive residency--you don't *need* USMLE as a DO applying for many of the less competitive allopathic residencies), but far fewer DO students take USMLE 2, and almost no one (~60/yr) take USMLE 3.

Nor would it be good if the boards were integrated. Judging by osteopathic performance on the USMLE, about 30% would fail, and 15-20% would never pass. of course, if osteopathic schools taught to the USMLE, this would be different, but I still can't help but think that there are some osteopathic students who will be doctors who would not be if they had to take the USMLE.

All in all, it's not the public that cares; the public lets its bureaucracy do the work. What problems osteopathy faces in acceptance are institutional, and increasingly self-inflicted as the AOA seems willing to trade full and true acceptance for a notion of identity that is, to put it politely, overly enthusiastic.

I absolutely think that they do need to consider combining the COMLEX and USMLE. Yes, it is true that more DOs would probably fail at the beginning, but I don't think this is based so much on the way things are taught, as it is based on the difference in the average of MCAT scores of applicants. Some people are better than others at standardized test. It doesn't mean one is a better or worse doctor, or that one necessarily knows more than another person. It just means some people do better on tests.

I am preparing to take the USMLE II tomorrow. I am only applying to allopathic residency programs as I have become sick and tired of the AOA BS and the political propaganda of the DO profession. We are equal to MDs. We practice the same medicine. Our patients can't tell the difference, nor can our colleagues. How can there be much of a difference. As a fourth year medical student, I have only worked with two DO attendings.

Of course one problem with combing the tests is the test writers for the COMLEX would have to get their acts together to write a decent test. The COMLEX is absolutely the worst written test I have ever taken. I know from threads on this board, that many if not most feel likewise. I find in an embarassment to our profession that this is the test by which we are licensed.

The AOA is such a weak organization. If we look at campaigns like the "DO on TV" or the quality research published in the JAOA, the quality residency programs available for us, the useless slogans the AOA comes out with, the insistance that we are different and unique and superiorly trained physicians all just continues to keep us out of being respected equally with our MD peers.

The AOA does seem completely out of touch with what is going on in the medical world today. I do hope they begin listening to some of us students, but I really don't think they will. I think they realize that times are changing as our generation of DOs come into the profession. They realize that the "Uniqueness" of the profession has evaporated. They are grasping to anything they can to justify the DOs as a different way of practicing medicine. They will not listen to us as students, as they are putting off the inevitable change as long as they possibly can.

 

[fuegorama]

Nice Bash DK!

I'm with you for about 95% of that ride.
However, prior to RECOMBINING the licensure exams I believe we must work on a combined match.
The current "match DO=you just screwed yourself out of any ACGME slot" really blows. It weakens the profession and prevents the majority of us from even considering an AOA position.
Further-we need to scrap the transitional rotating internship. This is a year that is unfunded if you go allopathic, redundant, and simply a slippery way to get more AOA "members" into the fold.

 

[fuegorama]

Sorry for going along with the hijacking above.
Concerning the OP's query-
Last year that lightning rod of intellect and future-directed thinking Darryl Beehler came to speak at our school.
According to his student schlep, "ER" did have a DO written in a few years ago. He was cast as an alcoholic
Per team-Beehler the AOA requested the removal of the character.
F

 

[DrMom]

Nice Bash DK!

I'm with you for about 95% of that ride.
However, prior to RECOMBINING the licensure exams I believe we must work on a combined match.
The current "match DO=you just screwed yourself out of any ACGME slot" really blows. It weakens the profession and prevents the majority of us from even considering an AOA position.
Further-we need to scrap the transitional rotating internship. This is a year that is unfunded if you go allopathic, redundant, and simply a slippery way to get more AOA "members" into the fold.

Combining the matches is actively being investigated by the AOA. *crosses fingers* The absolute earliest class that has any chance of this is 2007.

 

[Homunculus]

i don't care about TV, but for the love of God fix the damn photo of the corny doc on the "What is a DO?" pamphlet so the guy isn't missing the earpiece off his $2 stethoscope. They don't even have to take a new photo-- just photoshop the damn thing.

geez.


--your friendly neighborhood annoyed caveman

 

[Homunculus]

i don't care about TV, but for the love of God fix the damn photo of the corny doc on the "What is a DO?" pamphlet so the guy isn't missing the earpiece off his $2 stethoscope. They don't even have to take a new photo-- just photoshop the damn thing.

geez.


--your friendly neighborhood annoyed caveman

hmmm . . . i guess the pamphlet is just lower resolution, or they fixed it. 'cause online it looks ok. but i swear in real life the white blens in so well it looks like the earpiece is gone.

at any rate, i'm better now. back to your regularly scheduled thread.

--your friendly neighborhood de-escalated caveman

 

[sophiejane]

ok, that is just wrong. the tie is wrong, the glasses are wrong, the stethoscope came out of some kids Playskool doctor set, and he looks like a lawyer with that crooked smile.

I'm just thankful that I will get a chance to SHOW my patients and MD colleagues what kind of doctor I am and don't have to rely on the AOA's bizarre marketing tactics.

 

[gioia]

ok, that is just wrong. the tie is wrong, the glasses are wrong, the stethoscope came out of some kids Playskool doctor set, and he looks like a lawyer with that crooked smile.

 

[Robz]

What do you propose we do about the aforementioned situation?

I said it before...you want exposure do it on oprah, 60 minutes, 20/20, or big shows on discovery health or TLC. A little TRUE knowledge can go a long way

Do any of you think advertising is important?

Not as much, I think making a lot of quality doctors would be the best advertisement. That and what i said above.

Commercials or advertisements seem cheesy to me. I kinda worry about the doctor that advertises kinda like the lawyers I see on tv for medicial malpractice. Who knows....I just know I wasn't so hot on the money and direction that was spent on this campaign.

 

[gioia]

I said it before...you want exposure do it on oprah, 60 minutes, 20/20, or big shows on discovery health or TLC. A little TRUE knowledge can go a long way

I agree. But we need high profile DO's with great presence (akin to Weill, MD) to do the 'cause' justice.

 

[Robz]

I agree. But we need high profile DO's with great presence (akin to Weill, MD) to do the 'cause' justice.

I see where your coming from. I believe it would probably take a person to produce that show on thier own and pursue it.

I think the purpose of this campaign is just to get the name out there. Which is cool but for a first opinion of a profession I don't want it to be an ER episode about crainal manipulation...in a perfect world I would like the part to be written and the only thing that is on the coat is a D.O.

I think that pushing real documentaries and the amount of new D.O.'s that are going to be out in practice is going to do a LOT for the profession. Remember, there are quite a few new schools since even the early 90's so when you start seeing the amount of practicing physicians that is going to be the best education.

 

[Wahoowa]

Did you all know that one of the technical consultants for "ER" is a DO???

 

[gioia]

Did you all know that one of the technical consultants for "ER" is a DO???

Yes. In fact, there is a medical 'technical advising' Co., which services television/film production teams, run by DOs in Hollywood.

 

[iliacus]

I think we are all in agreement that it's a bad idea to allow a bunch of hollywood producers of cheesy television shows to represent our chosen profession. I'm concerned about the AOA, and think LukeWhite is on the money. The AOA should focus on improving our residency opportunities. We should start a letter writing campaign to the AOA urging them to expand residency opportunities.

 

[Docgeorge]

I think we are all in agreement that it's a bad idea to allow a bunch of hollywood producers of cheesy television shows to represent our chosen profession. I'm concerned about the AOA, and think LukeWhite is on the money. The AOA should focus on improving our residency opportunities. We should start a letter writing campaign to the AOA urging them to expand residency opportunities.

Now just get the people at the AOA to agree that it's stupid.

 

[mnm]

How do you point something out when it's so obvious? It's like telling someone their shirts on fire. If they can't figure it out for themselves then

 

[LukeWhite]

The best way to tell them, I think, is to continue to choose the best residency available to you, regardless of whether it's osteopathic or allopathic, and if unsure, to choose the allopathic rather than getting locked into the osteopathic so early.

The AOA's started to get the message already, I think Dr Beehler's Grand Tour shows. But the message is all wrong; there seems to be the idea that we should choose osteopathic residencies out of loyalty to the profession.

Seems to me that the profession is at a crossroads much as it was twenty years ago or so--there's a choice between self-identity and good medicine. Obviously it's not black and white, and I'm sure the AOA can accomplish both. But priorities won't be put in order, I think, until classes year after year demonstrate that if we're forced to choose between osteopathic identity and superior training, we'll choose the latter every time.

 

[cooldreams]

maybe its so obvious, that they dont see the osteopathic res as being worse, but rather better. perhaps they see the ppl going allopathic res because there are more of them, so its easier to get into?? i dunno.. i think they have no leg to stand on with the residency issue however, because simply, if ALL DO students wanted to do a DO res, it would currently be impossible. the res issue seems pretty obvious on here... but from here to them, where is the miscommunication / misunderstanding??

 

[San_Juan_Sun]

maybe its so obvious, that they dont see the osteopathic res as being worse, but rather better.

There's no question that many in the AOA see the osteo- residencies as superior-- for the same reasons they see osteopathy as superior. In my limited experience, the struggle to maintain osteopathy as a distinct mode of medicine has had the unintended consequence of turning some within the profession into "militant DOs".

Because they view osteopathy as superior, it becomes very hard to admit that DO residencies face many serious obstacles. Especially with the implicit assertion that osteo- residencies are the prime teaching grounds for the practice of the profession. In other words, if the residency stinks, what does it say about being a DO?

In some part, I would expect the "old guard" to have some of this attitude. How could you do through the battles for practice rights in the 50s and 60s and not feel this way? What concerns me however is that we seem to be attracting new "militants", with all the ideology and the desire to keep osteopathy squarely founded in 19th century dogma. This concerns me, as I do not want my personal practice to be represented this way.

My concern grew after I attended a conference and met several of the AOA student leadership. The vibe I got concerned me that we were grooming a new generation of Dr. Bheler's.

I guess the bottom line is that those of us who want to make sure that osteopathy represents excellent medicine (not just excellent OMT) will have to begin to be active in the AOA. Not easy to join an association whose best idea seems to be a postcard campaign.

By the way, I do want to note that there are many involved in AOA leadership (students and docs) who aren't "militants". These people need our support.

Lastly, I haven't weighed in too much on the postcards. I'm disappointed in the money wasted, the lack of ingenuity, and the lack of foresight (I doubt these postcards ever reach the producers of the shows). Writers will laugh at the hilariously bad DO-on-the-show ideas, while we sit around and pat ourselves on the back during the Year of the Mentor (or whatever the heck we're calling it. Sounds like a Chinese calendar to me, by the way. )

 

[jonb12997]

Hey fellow, MS's ( opps, I mean OMS's )... Our SOMA/SGA just asked us to all fill these stupid cards out... I really really doubt that the producers are going to get these. If anything it's just going to annoy the mailroom guys when they have to throw them all out. It's a good idea, but it seems like each school sending a personal letter signed by all the students would be better (if that is even worth it)... If the technical writer on ER can't get a DO on, then I doubt a bunch of first and second year students sending a bunch of impersonal post cards are going to work... Oh well, back to studying anatomy

 

[gioia]

Hey fellow, MS's ( opps, I mean OMS's )... Our SOMA/SGA just asked us to all fill these stupid cards out... I really really doubt that the producers are going to get these. If anything it's just going to annoy the mailroom guys when they have to throw them all out. It's a good idea, but it seems like each school sending a personal letter signed by all the students would be better (if that is even worth it)... If the technical writer on ER can't get a DO on, then I doubt a bunch of first and second year students sending a bunch of impersonal post cards are going to work... Oh well, back to studying anatomy

Jon, they had a DO on ER: he was an alcoholic.


On principle, I don't think we should ask third parties to represent us in anything other than good-old-fashioned word of mouth.

Asking for third party media representation is like asking a newspaper reporter to tell your local community about you: Misrepresentation in the making.

 

[cooldreams]

why do u guys watch that weird er show anyways?? have you ever seen trama: life in the er?? much better imho... it actually makes "er" look really cheesy....

 

[jhug]

On principle, I don't think we should ask third parties to represent us in anything other than good-old-fashioned word of mouth.

i totally agree!!!! misrepresentation in the making! that's why i think the aoa should be putting $$ toward the pre-med advisors/students

 

[jonb12997]

they had a DO on ER: he was an alcoholic.

I forgot about that... you know us OMS's! we all just turn into wino's haha...

Also, I love Trauma on TLC... too bad cable is so gosh darn expensive... oh well

 

[gioia]

why do u guys watch that weird er show anyways?? have you ever seen trama: life in the er?? much better imho... it actually makes "er" look really cheesy....

Watch what?? Oh, do you mean watch TV ?? Oh, I think I remember what that was!

 

[Wahoowa]

On Trauma-Life in the ER, I have seen several DO's in prestigious positions. Two come to mind. One was a chief resident in an MD trauma surgery program, and another was the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UMC in Las Vegas. There have been several others on this one program. It is interesting that this show does more to promote DO's than does the AOA.