I just had my annual physical, and thankully I am quite healthy. I noticed my Doc is a DO. What is the difference between a DO and an MD?
Depends on where the DO was trained, but as a sales rep I don't see a lot of difference. The DO's may (depending on training and personal bent) do some "manipulation" type stuff along the lines of what you might get with a chiropractor, but more intense and certainly more knowledgeable. I like DO's and their holistic approach to medicine personally, but only if they are also willing to use the newest and best that modern science and technology can give us too...
Answer me this: You are a top undergrad at Yale and get accepted to Yale Medical School, would you turn it down to go to a no-name DO school so that you can claim to better trained in "manipulations" and "holistc" medicine? Of course you wouldn't. I would be willing to bet 99.99999% of DO (osteopathic school) grads would have gone to an allopathic Medical School (traditional medical school) had they been accepted. They didn't get in, the wanted to go into medicine anyway, and get a DO....and subsequently claim that they are more "holistic" at dermatology, plastic surgery, and every subspecialty you can care to name. That doesn't mean, however, that one can't be a fine physician having gone that route.
There used to be a difference. DOs or osteopaths believed in manipulation of muscles and bones to treat illness. MDs believed in sugery and drug treatment. Now DO schools and MD schools teach the same anatomy, pathology etc. DO schools do tend to teach a class or two in manipulation but it is rarely used. DO grads can go to exactly the same residency as MD grads. Any more its pretty much the same. The quality of the doc is determined more by where they went for training not where they went to med school.
DOs did not believe in manipulation. They believed in "The Rule of the Artery", where all sickness came from "bad blood". If you were sick, they would bleed you, like what they did at the barber shops. At the same time, chiropractic was on the rise and the AMA was being formed to protect their profession. They tried to put the other fields out of business. Look up Wilks VS. AMA. The DO profession recognized that they had a lost cause and went to form a compromise of the DC and MD. Some states allowed the DO to become an MD for a small fee in an attempt to only have MDs in a unified field. Three Primary Care doctors legally exist now. DO, DC, and MD. They are all a different. A good doctor is a good doctor. Unfortunately, there are too many doctors that have egos. I see MDs bash DCs. I see surgeons who say dermatologists are not real doctors. A person who cannot be opened minded about their health is not thinking for themselves. They take too much for granted.
This is not true. Try getting into residency at MGH or Hopkins with a DO. While not impossible the odds are very much against you, when competing with the graduate from Harvard Med or Hopkins; of course type of specialty impacts....liek anesthesiology vs. neuorsurgery. Quality is not soley detrmined by residency/fellowship training. Medical School mentors and colleagues/friends have a huge impact and not only what type of residency you will chose, but how you may approach the rest of your training and career. In many ways medical school shapes your "intentional stance." I still think back on medical school mentors when faced with difficult decisions and think, "How would Professor ________ face this situation. What would he/she expect from me?" The quality of your school makes a difference. Some can override this with force of character, many cannot. The point is if you have been a superb student and have many options you will tend to gravitate to the best environments/schools you can get into, and thus the atmosphere of like-minded people will definitely shape who you become in your career.
I've been to one DO, he was an excellent doctor and his office and approach were no different from an MD's. It was kind of a family-tradition thing with him; he could have gotten into regular medical school but his dad was a DO. There's a major osteopathic (DO) medical school in Fort Worth. From what I understand it's equally hard to get into as UT Southwestern (MD) medical school in Dallas. Chiropractors in Texas do not have the same legal status as physicians that MDs and DOs have, but they do have to be state-licensed to practice. They can't write prescriptions, perform surgery, etc., here.
This is exactly why I have a lamborghini and not a ferrari. There are fewer of them available. The few people who own them even said they are better. Even the dealer that sells them said I will get far more looks driving it than a ferrari. Most people dont get to test drive their cars, but they let me because they know I quality for one. So, I bought one, and they were right! People notice me more and like to talk to me. I MUST be a better person. Trying to get a residency there is just like joining a sect/cult. They have made their own methods and "elite fraternity". When you then get it, they tell you it is because you are as good as them and that you should feel lucky. Yes, they are a good hospital, but get rid of all the egos and fluff, and all primary care physicians can offer a patient excellent care in their scope. Many egotistical people become doctors because they believe it will set them in a top position in life. When they get there, it is a lifetime of convincing patients that they are the best doctor in the best field. It seems like too many are putting their wallet and pride in front of their hypocritical oath.
The only way to get those residencies is if you go to their med school, the best way to get into HMS or Johns Hopkins med schoolis if you go to an elite high school or have rich parents. Getting into the name brand programs is often a matter of who you are not what you are. We have two vascular surgeons at the hospital I practice at. One a DO, one an MD. Both did MD residency. If I need vascular surgery I'll go to the DO. Much better doc than the MD. One of the surgeons I cross cover with is a DO. Did an MD residency @Henry Ford. Let him operate on my kid. Again in 2008 no significant difference betwwn MD and DO
I see a DO. Best doctor I've ever been to. More involved with his patients than the MD I saw for ten years who tried to ignore me while yapping about how little money she made. She retired, I stumbled upon this guy (son of my dentist who I have used for 30 years) and have never looked back. I don't know what differences there are, but I did happen to speak with the ER doctor he trained under during his residency who spoke VERY highly of him, without making any mention of his inferior training as a DO. He has done more with my BP (now 110 over 70) than my previous doc ever did, and is interested in my health more than any physician I've ever seen. He now cares for my 80 yr. old mother, my wife and my kids and I refer him regularly to friends who are looking for a new Doc. I guess like anything, you get good ones and bad ones, MD or DO, right? DM
BWAHAHAHA. I'm a UTSW grad. BWAHAHAHA As was said previously, good and bad docs from both MD and DO programs... but as far as TCOM and UTSW being eqally hard to get in to... please
I have a couple friends in DO school down in Ft. Lauderdale (NOVA). They all wanted to go to MD, but went DO because they didn't get into any MD schools. My friend there just told me a student transferred to George Washington (MD) after his second year. On the other hand, an old acquaintance is in the same class as my friend at NOVA. His father is a DO and now he (his son) is going down the same path.
This isn't about being egotistical, and it isn't about anecdotal stories...everyone knows "someone" who is either good or bad irrespective of the training/schools etc. If you analyze your proposition: that is doesn't matter a hoot, and it is all up to the individual, you will have to come to the realization that it isn't true. This isn't me trying to protect my fragile ego either. The reason medical care in the US is better than it was in 1900 had much to do with Flexner and his survey of "medical education" at that time. He, and the Rockefeller Institute, came to the conclusion that the best way to improve the sad state of affairs in medicine in the US (at that time the best and brightest went to Europe for training) was to link medical schools to fine Universities and develop a rigorous medical curriculum founded in science not individual experience and anecdote. The flowering of the 20th century was the result. To claim that where you are educated and were you train is immaterial is preposterous. You learn from your mentors, you learn and expand your thinking from your peers. The best institutions have statistically on average more of the best and the brightest than lesser known places. The best and the brightest will gravitate to those institutions to be a part of that innovative tradition, yes in part because their egos "demand" it, but so what...they flock there to be the best nonetheless. This is self evident. Now, you may ask do I belong to one of those institutions...no. I left to make my own way in a community setting where I can live my life and raise my family the way I want....not to be at the beck and call of the department chair. I do not have a chip on my shoulder, I am very happy with the decisions I have made. I did attend those institutions though, and I do have a couple "Ivy" degrees under my belt. Was I raised in a priveleged setting as one poster stated that all people who attend those schools do? No. My parents had no money, I went to public schools, then my state university borrowing every penny and working every minute I wasn't in school, then my parents had the poor taste to die. From there I pikcked myself up and dusted myself off and I went to Harvard and launched my career. I was accepted on my own merits given the quality of my previous work. Some of the finest minds, and finest people, I have had the privelege of encountering were at "those schools." Great people on a great mission to improve humanity and expand all our minds, and the quality of all our lives. If you need brain surgery done, and you aren't lucky enough to have a star in your local community, I would recommend flying to one of those instituions rather than flying to Pakistan to have it done, why?....becasue it does make a difference. Most prodigies aren't going to flock to Nova Southeastern. If they want to live in the south they will flock to Duke, if they want to live in huge urban center they will flock to Coulmbia, if they love New England they will flock to Harvard, if they love the west they will flock to UCSF and Stanford, etc, etc.
This is laughable. Get the grades and MCAT score then pick your medical school. Given a choice, almost all will take MD. Get good grades and a killer score on USMLE step I, then pick your residency, if you don't have a pathologic personality. I personally think the DO approach makes sense, but I did not consider it. I wanted to go where the best were. Sorry, its a fact. I know two very fine DOs, but on average you will find better students entering the MD track. Of course there are exceptions like everything in life.
I found photoshop and a copy of an old diploma much easier that wasting my time on all that medical school nonsense. Just exude confidence, drive a big Mercedes and you're in.
See, this statement makes no sense. What do you really have to show that medicine is better than osteopathy in education? Did you get both degrees? There is nothing you can do to show this. In fact, you have a bias. What you did is best because you did it. To you, you make the best decisions possible. My sister is a medical doctor. It is all hype. 2 years of book work with 2 years of watching doctors in rounds is not worth the God complex that makes some medical doctors think they are worth more than a dentist, DO, or vet. People think that being in medicine is so difficult because of the time in school. They see 4 years of medical school, 4 years of residency, and possible more. That is just not right. Half of the medical program is rounds and there is a salary in residency. If doctors did not have the politics to back them up, maybe people would realize that we have one of the worst health systems in the world. How are our medical doctors so good in comparison to other doctors in the country and world? How is it that we spend more money on cancer treatment and prevention and have more cancer problems than anywhere else? How are we so go with heart disease management and treatment and we have the track record we do? "U.S. health care has about 250,000 iatrogenic (physician caused) deaths per year which makes it the third leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease and cancer" http://drug-education.info/articles/Starfield.htm
Your thoughts are so muddled they are dangerous. I doubt very much you would have intellectually survived the "watching of dcotors" on rounds at the places I trained. Your intellectual flacidity would have rapidly been discovered and removed immediately. To counter your points would require a lengthy post that no doubt would be beyond your comprehension.
My sister-in-law got her D.O at a school in Kansacs City and then went to the Cleveland Clininc to do a residency in anesthesiolgy. I still am not sure of what the subtle differences are but calling them < MD is misinformed.
It's not attitude. It is the fact that your post highlights a vacuous knowledge about medicine, and complicated social issues here and abroad; pure and simple. I suspect you are a bitter wannabe. Are you a chiropracter? Just asking.
