Question for osteopathic medical students and graduates

[wernicke]

Just to add an interesting thought about the AOA and how it doesn't seem to really work for students sometimes:

here in phoenix, there is the Maricopa County hospital that has several residencies. It is primarily an allopathic institution, but arizona is VERY DO friendly. That have internships and transitional programs as well. Well, for the DO student, s/he can apply to Maricopa County's transitional program and get credit as a DO internship. In other words, it is dually accredited. This saves alot of headaches for DO students who wish to do allopathic residencies without pissing off the AOA.

BUT, for some reason, Maricopa is NOT going to continue the DO-approved transitional program. I think the program still exists, it just isn't accredited by the AOA. Apparently, Maricopa County got sick of the red tape, politics, and crap the AOA has given them. Thus, Maricopa said "piss off."

Remember, I am getting this from a classmate who rotated at Maricopa County last month. He got it from the attending he was working with. I doubt either one of them would lie, but there is a possibility of error.

If this is true, I am REALLY PROUD the AOA is starting new residencies from the ground up, while pissing off a great residency program at maricopa. It's a great program because the pathology in phoenix is huge and students also rotate at Mayo clinic at Scottsdale. But I'll get a better feel about the program later this year when i rotate there.

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[wernicke]

I just love threads where i can vent. keeps the blood pressure down.

 

[migraineboy]

I am so excited for all of you fresh osteopathic students and pre-DO's. Go forth and rid the world of osteopathic discrimination! Topple Hopkins, Mayo, MGH, and Cleveland Clinic and turn them into AOA-approved strongholds! Gut the AOA and turn it into the new League of Justice, young superfriends! And when you do, I'll be the first to pat you on the back (please keep in mind, however, I'll also be the first to say "told you so" if you feel like many of us in a few years). As for doing something constructive so those following me have a "better time of it", I am. I'm warning all of you.

Wernicke - I tried to respond to your "private" message (doesn't that sound sultry), but you are not set up to receive, only to send (how altruistic).

 

[wernicke]

migraine,

please send again. i just fixed it.

 

[JS-UNMC]

Thank you wernike, gasrx, and migraineboy. It is nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. I suggest that everyone out there read "DO's eat their young." It is amazing to me that it was printed about twenty years ago... and the authors gripes still hold true today. Absolutely amazing! I truely wonder if the DO machine is so broke that it can ever be fixed.

 

[NurseyK]

While I don't believe my road as a DO will be easy, I don't believe that I made a wrong decision. Now, granted, I am not looking for a trail-blazing Residency at Mayo, Hopkins, etc. I've found some solid DO-friendly allo EM spots out here, and talked to Residents in there from my school - no reports of problems "because they are DO's." Now maybe I may have my head firmly shoved between my own buttcheeks, but I'd like to think my outlook on my chosen profession is different than the young-bright-eyed-newbies to the medical world due to my advanced age and previous career experience (read: already jaded). :wink:

Kat

PS: No career eats its young like Nursing does.

 

[bobo]

•••quote:•••I hope that this thread is not getting too discouraging for the pre-DO and early DO students out there. Overall, you can become a fantastic physician regardless of the initials after your name. And there are many DO's out there in a wide variety of specialties at some excellent hosptials. And if you work hard enough, maybe you can land a competitive residency spot at a top notch program. Just realize that the road from point A to point B is often more complicated and frustrating for osteopathic students. You will have to be more self-reliant and self-sufficient. That in itself is not bad, until you stop to realize that you are paying muchas $$$ to a school that should be helping to train you. ••••That is very well put. Pretty much sums it up for me too.

This is the most interesting thread since ADRIANSHOE burst upon this bulletin board some time ago.

bobo

 

[doughboy]

Teufelhunden...forget it, its not even worth talking to you anymore. You're stuck in a rut. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this short lived enthusiasm from you. Hardwork and determination are not the answers to everything. When one of the top students in my class with kick ass board scores and grades and research and whatever else you feel relatively important can't get a urology position at any program its kind of disappointing when you look at the stats for ACGME programs and he is more qualified. We can also talk about the AOA match and how much of a joke it is. Do you really believe there is a match? I thought so too but after talking to my fellow classmates who went to the DO match, every program offers you the spot before match day...usually a week after the interview. I actually had one person in my class get offered a DO radiology position before applications were even available. So when the AOA match day came, few were surprised upon where they were going. The only ones with anxiety were ones who only applied for the traditional internships. Why do all these DO programs want a commitment from you before the match? I have some theories and would love to hear of anyone elses. We can talk all day about how there are DO's in all these specialities and at all these MD institutions but the bottomline is how did they end up there? Do you think they graduated from DO residencies and then got positions at these MD institutions or did they apply for MD residencies, complete them, and were then offered those positions. Its just riduculous that I have to go to an MD residency to get the quality training that I demand. Did I want to go that route? Not if I had to....I would have stayed in the DO world but they only have a limited number of spots for certain residencies that I would consider "quality." I'll say it again, its ridiculous that DO's have to look to the MD world for quality residencies. Don't you think that kind of defeats the purpose? Our osteopathic education, which we are so proud of, should be continued past med school into our residencies...but that's not the case for all of us.

 

[DrStacey69]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by gasrx:
[Does anyone get the DO journal? Why do they only talk about DO's who do manipulation. Why not recognize all DO's in all fields of medicine. I hate that 25 cent magazine.[/QB]••••I agree. I was pissed as anything when the issue about 9/11 came out and the only pictures they showed were of the DOs that did manipulation on rescue workers. Not that that wasn't valuable (several of my family members are FDNY and they said it really helped), but what about the DOs/students that were at the scene or at local hospitals, doing triage and trauma?????

BTW, gasrx, congrats on the Brigham....see you at graduation.

Oh, and if I had to do it over again, I would go to whichever school accepted me, regardless of degree. If I got into both MD and DO it would depend on cost and location. When push comes to shove, we all get the same license to practice medicine.

 

[doc2b34]

Dr Stacey,

Great way to end this thread. I was getting really disappointed and worried about my choice when I read the first two section of this topic. But I think Stacey is right, we will have the privilage of having a medical license in the end. I was a chiropractor(I'm not proud to say that) before I got accepted at TUCOM and talk about not having support. Those guys do not have the support of the medical establishment, from their schools, or from their collegues when they graduate. I don't mean to bash the chiros, but I just wanted to give you guys another perspective to think about before you go on and talk about how bad the DO's got it compare to the MD's. At least the MD's recognise us DO's as a ligitimate medical profession. doc2b34