any major differences to know about? Any medical pros on here who can give me a breakdown? I am in need of a new Dr and just curious if I should consider a DO as well as an MD.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
It's funny because I don't think most people know how good (or bad) their Dr really is.
I have seen Drs who are super nice but don't know Jack, there are dos who are medical directors, and there are nurse practitioners who are better than their doctor counterparts.
Don't worry about the degree, if they are practicing in a hospital then that means they have the credentials to do so(unless they are fraudulent-which is unlikely).
You are best finding someone who will take the time to listen to you. This is way more important than any credentials.
It is very unlikely that you have an extremely rare condition that only a highly trained and brilliant Dr can diagnose. And if you do have this rare condition, you want someone who will listen to your issues and refer you to a specialist.
Short answer is the differences are changing:
Old school thinking is they are lesser candidates because they didn't perform as well as their MD counter parts. Most DOs were people who couldn't get into an MD school so they applied to DO school. My wife and I used to debate was it better to take a DO or an MD from a Caribbean school for residency. The thought was DO training was more wholistic and they did some join manipulation. They were the more wellness, nutrition, whole body doctors. There are also DO residency which a DO can apply to but an MD can't. For same reason as DO schools, they are less desirable. However, they have started to change their standards and now been raised and have the same criteria as MD residency. DOs can complete to an MD residency (allopathic).
New school thinking is we need a lot more doctors to service the aging population and all the fat people. The training standards have been raised to be similar to each other. I think DOs still take one osteopathic medicine class. However, the number of DO schools is exploding at a rate much higher than allopathic schools because many of them are pay to play. They charge really high tuition and are for profit so of course they accept a lot of students. Anytime you have a bigger pool of people you're going to have people with lower college grades and test scores. This is a new phenomenon in the last 10 years or so. The best DOs will often go allopathic residencies. The most important thing is the last place you been. No one gives a crap if you went to Harvard in College. If you were at a good residency, that's all that matters. Same for medical school.
My opinion- Many DOs do primary care and are well suited for that. Many DOs that got into allopathic surgical residencies are at the top of their class and out perform many MD counterparts. Their competition is so hard to get into an allopathic surgical residency, they had to overcome a lot of hurdles. A good DO is certainly better than a bad MD. Test scores and grades aren't everything. My roommate became a podiatrist because he couldn't get into med school. The reason was he partied freshman year and got crap grades. Sophmore-Senior year we had equivalent grades and test scores. He made a mistake and paid for it. Doesn't mean he wasn't smart enough to do the MD coursework or lacked ability. There will be a long stigma against DOs for a while. In past it was probably warranted, but less so today. Many of the docs I work with are DOs and I haven't noticed any drop in the quality of care they deliver. I would easily have them take care of me or my family.
My advice- Find a person you like that understands your medical problems. Get referrals from friends and family. Their degree is a lot less important than their competency.
This is splitting hairs. The things you mentioned are things a director considers when hiring someone. These are not things the average patient needs to worry about.Lot of truth in here. I think for primary care/hospitalist, there really isn't much difference. DOs still have to take the osteopathic manipulative class, but the rest is essentially the same. Most of your education comes during rotations in 3rd/4th year and you are trained by MD/DOs alike.
I don't think there is much of a difference in specialists either but it is harder to get into an allopathic specialty residency as a DO. Some of that is still based on the old school thinking. I think it will be better when everything is fully merged and there is no longer DO only residencies.
There is a lot of concern with any new school, but all of the recent new ones are DO. It would certainly give me pause when interviewing someone from a brand new school.
I agree that quality of training is the most important thing. After that is finding someone you like and can work with over time.
Disclaimer-DO who went to established and respected school and went to respected allopathic (MD) residency. I did get into MD schools, just liked where I went the best after interviews.
This is splitting hairs. The things you mentioned are things a director considers when hiring someone. These are not things the average patient needs to worry about.
As a patient, if you don't have any major medical issues, Realistically it probably doesn't matter who you go to. If you have a complicated history then go to someone with some experience and someone who will spend the time listening to what's going on.
Providers now days are mostly specialized. This means as long as you are not brand new out of residency, you are probably at least competent. Of course some are better than others, but this may change depending on the patient.
Very few people can actually tell the difference between a Dr, do, or nurse practitioner. It is more of a personality fit rather than your training. A good provider knows what they don't know and will find an answer. I would rather go to someone who knows they don't know everything rather than someone who thinks they know everything.
This is splitting hairs. The things you mentioned are things a director considers when hiring someone. These are not things the average patient needs to worry about.
As a patient, if you don't have any major medical issues, Realistically it probably doesn't matter who you go to. If you have a complicated history then go to someone with some experience and someone who will spend the time listening to what's going on.
Providers now days are mostly specialized. This means as long as you are not brand new out of residency, you are probably at least competent. Of course some are better than others, but this may change depending on the patient.
Very few people can actually tell the difference between a Dr, do, or nurse practitioner. It is more of a personality fit rather than your training. A good provider knows what they don't know and will find an answer. I would rather go to someone who knows they don't know everything rather than someone who thinks they know everything.
Awesome reply. Very informative. With a projected shortage of MD's moving forward, I'm glad the DO's can help bridge the gap.Short answer is the differences are changing:
Old school thinking is they are lesser candidates because they didn't perform as well as their MD counter parts. Most DOs were people who couldn't get into an MD school so they applied to DO school. My wife and I used to debate was it better to take a DO or an MD from a Caribbean school for residency. The thought was DO training was more wholistic and they did some join manipulation. They were the more wellness, nutrition, whole body doctors. There are also DO residency which a DO can apply to but an MD can't. For same reason as DO schools, they are less desirable. However, they have started to change their standards and now been raised and have the same criteria as MD residency. DOs can complete to an MD residency (allopathic).
New school thinking is we need a lot more doctors to service the aging population and all the fat people. The training standards have been raised to be similar to each other. I think DOs still take one osteopathic medicine class. However, the number of DO schools is exploding at a rate much higher than allopathic schools because many of them are pay to play. They charge really high tuition and are for profit so of course they accept a lot of students. Anytime you have a bigger pool of people you're going to have people with lower college grades and test scores. This is a new phenomenon in the last 10 years or so. The best DOs will often go allopathic residencies. The most important thing is the last place you been. No one gives a crap if you went to Harvard in College. If you were at a good residency, that's all that matters. Same for medical school.
My opinion- Many DOs do primary care and are well suited for that. Many DOs that got into allopathic surgical residencies are at the top of their class and out perform many MD counterparts. Their competition is so hard to get into an allopathic surgical residency, they had to overcome a lot of hurdles. A good DO is certainly better than a bad MD. Test scores and grades aren't everything. My roommate became a podiatrist because he couldn't get into med school. The reason was he partied freshman year and got crap grades. Sophmore-Senior year we had equivalent grades and test scores. He made a mistake and paid for it. Doesn't mean he wasn't smart enough to do the MD coursework or lacked ability. There will be a long stigma against DOs for a while. In past it was probably warranted, but less so today. Many of the docs I work with are DOs and I haven't noticed any drop in the quality of care they deliver. I would easily have them take care of me or my family.
My advice- Find a person you like that understands your medical problems. Get referrals from friends and family. Their degree is a lot less important than their competency.
I did not mean to say there is no difference at all between md/do and a nurse practitioner. Obviously MD/do have had significantly more training/education. I meant no disrespect to you.Huge differences between nurse practioners and physicians. Many take online classes to get their NP degree.
Honestly, if they came out and said I could pay someone a grand and my letters would change to MD, I would. It would help eliminate the confusion. I, along with 95+%, of the DOs don't do the manipulative medicine anyway.Comparison of MD and DO in the United States - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I have never really noticed any difference in quality of care between MD's and DO's. Quite frankly they could drop the distinction all together and it probably wouldn't matter much.
There used to be differences but they got whittled away to the point where they don't matter anymore and the distinction only exists because no one has ever really made it go away.
It's not as a patient something I would ever really think about.
I did not mean to say there is no difference at all between md/do and a nurse practitioner. Obviously MD/do have had significantly more training/education. I meant no disrespect to you.
Having said that, the patient does not always benefit by seeing the most highly trained person. Certain specialties may be the exception where you would want to go to the most highly trained person.
But there can be downfalls to going to a highly trained Dr. Sometimes Drs have fellows or residents working with them(nothing wrong with that, but not everyone understands this). Sometimes big wig Drs travel more doing conferences etc so scheduling can be challenging. Sometimes Drs have nurse practitioners working with them so you might only see the Dr 1 out of 3 appointments anyway. Some procedures/patients just don't need the skill level of a Dr. Even a new grad can run a strep test and order an antibiotic.
I just think the more important thing is finding someone who will listen to you and treat you accordingly rather than worry about credentials.