Throughout the glut of threads regarding these topics I've seen a ton of misinformed posts. I'm going to give my perspective on our situation as DO students, as I currently understand some of the intricacies of the AOA.
1) I supported the merger in the early phases, and still do, but I was concerned with the ACGME providing a "take it or leave it offer" on something of this magnitude. NONE of us currently know the terms of the MOU so it find it hilarious that people can so easily bash the AOA without knowing the terms. The deans of all of the COM's unanimously voted yes initially, and then unanimously voted no after the MOU. That's enough evidence for me that there was something in there that we wouldn't want.
2)I think the AOA does far more for us students than they get credit for. I do think that they emphasize "osteopathic distinctiveness" far too much at times. I absolutely agree that student opinion is important, but some on here act like the AOA should do whatever the students want. We make up a small non-paying dues membership % of the AOA. Should they listen to us more? Personally, I think so, and I'd like to work toward that. I can say that after attending so many of their meetings and comparing them to AMA meetings the DO profession feels far more like a "family". AOA leaders are constantly asking student feedback. You may think that's ridiculous, but that's just what I've experienced.
3) We as a profession are growing too fast. End of story. We are out pacing the creation of residency slots, and I don't feel it's acceptable. That being said, that ARE actively working to increase residency slots.
http://www.osteopathic.org/inside-aoa/Education/Pages/new-aoa-approved-ogme-programs.aspx ~75 new programs last year with ~1,100 new slots. The question that remains is, are these programs properly equipped to be residency programs. This I can't answer, but I am concerned that they may not be.
4) We need more PUBLIC state funded schools, instead of PRIVATE for-profit schools. If we are going to grow, we should at least do it the right way. I think this statement is pretty self-explanatory.
Just as an aside, the AOA
attempts to represent all DO's, not only DO's that have went through AOA programs. I met a MULTITUDE of DO's that trained in MD programs that were voting members of the House of Delegates. In order to become a voting member, you need to get involved with your Osteopathic State Society (which you could easily do despite having trained at an ACGME program) That being said, the majority of AOA members are DO's who went through AOA programs, but don't for a second think those are the only people attending these meetings.
Most importantly, if you read this posts and you actually care about these things then get involved. I understand that people brush this comment off as being pretentious, but I truly believe that if some of the more vocal and active posters on here actually went out and tried to get involved, that sooner or later there would be enough of us to make a difference. If you're involved as a SOMA President or NLO you will attend these conferences and have the opportunity to write resolutions that can change AOA policy, we just had one of our member's go through last week (
http://www.do-online.org/TheDO/?p=148841). If you're SGA President/VP of your class you will automatically have a vote on your state society (I believe). If you want nothing to do with either of those, you can just contact your state society, and get involved. If want nothing to do with the DO profession then get involved on the AMA side, just do SOMETHING.
Tl;dr: Just read the damn post.
Also, if you want to turn this thread into talking about ways to actually get involved, I'd be more than happy to work with everyone!