The DO I shadowed was a heart surgeon...

[AvrgPreMedKid]

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This one is for reals, guys. I'm working on WesternU's secondary. It asks:

"While shadowing an osteopathic physician, what did the experience do to solidify your desire/ambition to become an osteopathic physician?"

The DO I shadowed was a heart surgeon. Not the traditional DO, right? Didn't see any OMM... I plan on being honest, obviously. I'm not gonna say, "She broke that sternum open in a way that made it seem like the person was still one with himself." Should I just mention the DO was a heart surgeon, so that didn't inspire me... wait, I kind of just answered my question. It kind of did inspire me, because I realized that being a DO does not limit one to any particular field. Yeaaaaa, something like that.

 

[radkat101]

Maybe say something positive about the way they interacted with you or the patient. It's no secret to schools that most DOs don't use OMM in practice, so they probably aren't too concerned about that. Just mention something positive about the doc, and move on to the clinical experience you got from shadowing.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Some people on this forum were able to see differences between DOs and MD counter parts in the way they practiced (there was one with an orthopedic surgeon that really surprised me because he articulated the differences very well). I shadowed an ENT a year back, and the one difference I actually noted was that she focused on preventative care when she could. I had never seen that with any of the MD specialists. I am a very big proponent for the patient being an active part of his or her health. This was one of the reasons that solidified my decision to pursue DO school.

In the end, just state what you saw and what you admired about the physician you shadowed. You did not see any notable differences, but understood that there are depending on the physician.

 

[AvrgPreMedKid]

Thanks, dudes. Pretty much what I was thinking.

 

[AlteredScale]

"This ones for real guys" hahaha love it!


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[nontrad78]

Your optometrist was a heart surgeon?

 

[PlasticBag]

I would not say that "being a DO does not limit me to one field" or anything that comes off as negative. Not being disadvantaged due to being a DO is not the same as finding some positive reason why the DO route is more (!) attractive to you. Even if you have to stretch the truth, I think schools will appreciate that.

Did this DO do an osteopathic residency? Just try to find something, anything. Maybe he was great at interacting with staff, had a good bedside manner, etc

 

[AvrgPreMedKid]

I would not say that "being a DO does not limit me to one field" or anything that comes off as negative. Not being disadvantaged due to being a DO is not the same as finding some positive reason why the DO route is more (!) attractive to you. Even if you have to stretch the truth, I think schools will appreciate that.

Did this DO do an osteopathic residency? Just try to find something, anything. Maybe he was great at interacting with staff, had a good bedside manner, etc

Hmm. Dangit.

As for residency, she did it at UMDNJ, and she did have a good bedside manner. I guess I'll make it seem like only DO's have good bedside manner 🤔

 

[hallowmann]

You guys are coming from a very narrow view of what a DO is. Doing OMT doesn't make you a DO (regardless of what one interviewer tried to tell me).

Now sure, nowadays the difference between a DO and MD are getting smaller, but honestly that's because MDs have for the last 4-5 decades focused more on preventive medicine and a holistic approach that DOs had basically been preaching since Still (technically it was started way back during the foundation of medicine, then got lost for a while, then was claimed by AT Still and others, then reentered traditional medicine more recently).

Either way, this doesn't have to be about OMT, it also doesn't have to be about MD vs. DO, this is about an emphasis of teaching that focuses on approaching patients as a unit, made up of mind, body and spirit (i.e. incorporating a treatment modality that encompasses many aspects of the patient's life) and facilitating the body's mechanisms to heal and regulate itself. You don't need to say ONLY DOs do that, because it's not true, but you could simply say that DOs do that, which is one of the reasons you want to be a DO.