New SDN member, applying to schools (MD and DO) this June...but I feel this question is best answered by current DO students. So what if I attend a DO school and want to go into a competitive residency such as sugery or rad...more than likely I will end up in an ACGME residency because, and I'm only pretty sure of this, there aren't many AOA residencies for competitive residencies like surg/rad. How much of a problem is this really going to be if I want to be a practicing D.O. in one of the 5 states where this is a problem? I live in Michigan BTW, family is here, so more than likely I'll live at least part of my life in MI, but that will be difficult if I can't practice as a D.O. because I went through an MD residency, which by itself was only because of the limited number of specialty AOA residencies in the first place! Any help is appreciated because I'd hate to become a D.O. surgeon and not even be able to practice in my home state! Also, I did read a thread somewhere that said that even if I was granted approval by AOA under resolution 42, I still might not be able to practice in Michigan (or other 4 states) because I still need approval from some Michigan liscensing board which is a separate body from the AOA. Any opinions/help? Is DO a possibility for me in Michigan with an ACGME residency? Or does this issue only matter for where you do your residency and not where you intend to practice later in life?
You can petition to the AOA to have your internship requirement removed or have the internship you do in the ACGME program approved. But, youre right, Michigan still needs to give the OK. There are indeed AOA approved Surgery and Radiology programs. 40 surgery (13 in MI) and 14 radiology (8 in MI). If you are still set on an ACMGE program, completing an AOA internship might not be a bad idea anyway. In fact, you may need to complete an internship year for Radiology. Might as well make it an AOA year and have it approved
As JP alluded to in his post, it is actually the internship year that must be AOA or approved through Res 42. If you complete (or have approved) a rotating or transitional year, then any residency program will be fine.
So if for some reason I decided to go the ACGME route, is it true that it's more difficult from the state (say Michigan) to approve the resolution that it is for AOA to approve it (which I heard they did for over 90% of cases). Actually, has anybody heard of somebody who has gotten past the AOA stage and had one of the 5 states approve the ACGME residency?
Since the AOA got rid of the intern year for a lot of specialties, doesn't this change the requirement now? If there's no osteopathic internship required as part of the osteopathic residency, would it still be a requirement to do an osteopathic internship before an allopathic residency?
If I understand your question correctly, I belive the answer is that the osteopathic internship is still technically a requirement. Many AOA accredited programs, however, offer a specialty track in which the traditional rotating internship is counted as the first year of residency. So in that sense, an additional year is not mandatory. Students who wish to pursue training through the ACGME (MD residencies) still need to complete the internship or make arrangements through R42 as the OP noted if they wish to practice in one of the five states.
If any residents/fellows/attendings are out there who have successfully navigated through the R42 approval process, I would be very interested to hear about your experiences. Thanks in advance.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe I just read an recent article (I think 2 issues ago) in a recent The DO which listed approved, pending, and denied DOs for waivers on their intership year. I believe less than 1% had been denied. Correct me if I'm wrong. I take that is as if you undergo a non-approved Osteopathic Residency and take the time to fill out a waiver, it will be approved. (assuming you are in good standings professionally)
