Which Schools for Physiatry?

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dtrain5

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Hello All,

I was wondering if any of you have heard what the best schools are if you are interested in physiatry. I love rehab medicine, and truly have a passion for the muscloskeletal system. Any info. is much appreciated!

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It really shouldn't matter what school you attend, but I would guess that the schools w/ great programs close to them would be a good choice for ease of scheduling away rotations....ie PCOM w/ Temple/Jeff/Upenn and the NJ programs ( Kessler, etc) not too far away. I would assume they know the general rep of our students and are familiar w/ them from rotations. If you don't mind travelling for away rotations then any school you would be happy at should work just as well.
 
PM&R isnt a terribly competitive specialty, although it has been more popular the last few years.

I say look for a school that offers you the ability to do rotations at the programs you are interested in. A lot of PCOMers rotate, apply and are eventually accepted to the big Philadelphia programs...Penn, Jefferson and Temple.

Wherever you go do well in your classes and score some nice rotations.
 
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DMU has also had students place into fairly competitive residencies in PM&R. One of our OMM fellows placed at Mayo this year. Some of the PDs actually seem to appreciate those applicants w/ a DO background b/c of our obvious training in the musculoskeletal system.

My advice would be to consider those programs w/ stronger OMM departments that have been around for awhile especially DMU & PCOM. Check out match lists too.
 
Krazykritter said:
DMU has also had students place into fairly competitive residencies in PM&R. One of our OMM fellows placed at Mayo this year. Some of the PDs actually seem to appreciate those applicants w/ a DO background b/c of our obvious training in the musculoskeletal system.

My advice would be to consider those programs w/ stronger OMM departments that have been around for awhile especially DMU & PCOM. Check out match lists too.
DO's are actually OVER-represented in PM&R.....we only make up around 5-6% of US physicians, but are around 15% of the PM&R docs. Check out the thread in the PM&R forum on this site about this years matches....DO's are heavily represented.
 
Taus said:
DO's are actually OVER-represented in PM&R.....we only make up around 5-6% of US physicians, but are around 15% of the PM&R docs. Check out the thread in the PM&R forum on this site about this years matches....DO's are heavily represented.


Would you please define over represented. Over represented in relation to what? Other specialties?
 
dtrain5 said:
Would you please define over represented. Over represented in relation to what? Other specialties?
PROPORTIONALLY they are, of course in in sheer numbers they are not. 5-6% of all Docs are DOs, but around 15% of PM&R docs are DOs. If a specialty has 5% DO's in it, then DO's are represented proportionally just as much as MD's. If only 1% of all Docs in a certain specialty are DO's, that is under-representation.
 
My mom is currently in a psychology doctorate program with Adelphi University on Long Island and is doing an externship at North Shore Hospital LIJ and said there were quite a number of DO PM&R residents and I wouldn't be surprised if the the majority of them went to NYCOM. On side note this really helped prove to my parents that DOs are real doctors.
 
dtrain5 said:
Hello All,

I was wondering if any of you have heard what the best schools are if you are interested in physiatry. I love rehab medicine, and truly have a passion for the muscloskeletal system. Any info. is much appreciated!

I would recommend attending an AOA-accredited osteopathic medical school if you have interest in the musculoskeletal system.

The only AOA schools that have PM&R residencies include NY-COM and MSU-COM.

Since you will likely be applying to ACGME residencies (unless you plan on doing an OMM/NMM residency) then it shouldn't matter what school you attend. I typically would consider a school based on the residency programs it has available. This translates to better clinical years and improved chances at matching within the institution.

(There are OMM/NMM residencies in CA, IN, ME, MI, MO, NY, OH, OK, PA, and TX.)

PM&R = Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

OMM/NMM = Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine
 
Gmw1386 said:
My mom is currently in a psychology doctorate program with Adelphi University on Long Island and is doing an externship at North Shore Hospital LIJ and said there were quite a number of DO PM&R residents and I wouldn't be surprised if the the majority of them went to NYCOM. On side note this really helped prove to my parents that DOs are real doctors.

The chief of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation for Baylor Health in Dallas is a DO from OSU-COM. She is the first DO that Baylor Medical Center accepted for a residency in any specialty.

Now it is a common practice.
 
The school you attend shouldn't matter too much. NSU-COM's Chair of PM&R (Dr. Tolchin) is EXTREMELY well known in physiatry circles and is now the Chief of PM&R at Jackson Memorial Hospital (teaching hospital for the University of Miami). Even if you didn't meet him as an NSU-COM student, I'd still recommend doing an elective rotation with him. A fourth-year recently told us Dr. Tolchin knows "someone, everywhere" and has gotten many people into PM&R residencies. Good luck!
 
The school you attend shouldn't matter too much. NSU-COM's Chair of PM&R (Dr. Tolchin) is EXTREMELY well known in physiatry circles and is now the Chief of PM&R at Jackson Memorial Hospital (teaching hospital for the University of Miami). Even if you didn't meet him as an NSU-COM student, I'd still recommend doing an elective rotation with him. A fourth-year recently told us Dr. Tolchin knows "someone, everywhere" and has gotten many people into PM&R residencies. Good luck!

Not sure what this "Chair" thing means, but doesn't it involve a Dept? tIs this Dept still in existence? I found Dr. Tolchin listed as in the OP&P Dept. I'm interested in PM&R, and was hoping that it was still around. The Dept, or whatever, that is.
 
Hello All,

I was wondering if any of you have heard what the best schools are if you are interested in physiatry. I love rehab medicine, and truly have a passion for the muscloskeletal system. Any info. is much appreciated!

I know at DMU they have recently had a couple PM&R matches at Mayo clinic.
 
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