Agreed.....

DO schools are popping up all over the place though. There will be more places for DO's to study than you can shake a stick at soon. Fast growing profession.

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Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

Perhaps I am a bit old fashioned. Podiatry is a joke profession. DO and other alternative MD med professions are a close 2nd. The DO schools have GPA/MCAT acceptance levels as shockingly low as the offshore schools. Why is it that all these podiatrists are now trying to get into Med School? With a few exceptions DOs aren't even known or respected internationally. If only our students would spend a little more time improving their applications, instead of always trying to take the easy way out.

Nah, I disagree. Osteopathy is doing the same thing as Medical Doctors....lots of good docs around. They are fast becoming the family practice docs of choice too for many states. The education is excellent in these schools.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

I would agree with AZSkeptic. Some of the best family physicans I have seen are DOs at US allopathic medical schools. DOs are now over 10 percent of licensed physicans, and there are usually requirements for about that percentage to be in federal agencies, such as military. Even at NIH they have equal status. The reason there is a growth in number of DO medical schools is partly driven by the fact that it is less expensive to start one, since the research component required by their LCME equivalent is less. So they can have a faculty number not much different from a good carribean school. There are podiatrists in surgery departments of US schools that also do a great job. Take a look at the grads of the PhD to MD two year program from University of Miami over its decades long tenure, and you will see almost everyone of them is a sucessful physican and physician scientists, from advanced standing students. The first time I met one was at Johns Hopkins where they were doing a residency and I couldn't believe they did their MD in two years. There are also excellent graduates of the mexican accredited Juarez PhD to MD advanced standing program (I don't know if it is still going). It doesn't matter how long it takes to get a degree, what matters is how good the individual is, and the opportunities he is given. That's why the schools should try to give as much opportunity as possible to the students. What is a shame is that DOs are not recognized outside of north america. I have seen some incredible DO physician/scientists have to explain themselves at overseas meetings. If I'm not mistaken many years ago (50s or 60s) California converted DOs to MDs during a physican shortage or realignment of schools (someone may what to check on that if that is true). It would be important for some of our internationally recognized DOs to have a program where they could get a MD designation if they wanted it and had the additional allopathic training. For example those that go to an allopathic residency program for 4 years might get a conversion. In india the MD is given to MBBS graduates after they become a specialist. Or we could adopt the british research MD, which is given to MBBS graduates who submit a scientifically sound MD thesis. Thus the MD behind the DO would be a research degree as it is in Oxford, Sydney or most other british/australian universities. This at least would give the DO some international equivalency.

Maybe you feel that podiatry is a joke profession and D.Os are not MDs, but you should be concerned. If Podiatrists are successful in obtaining more spaces in medical programs, there will be less spots for IMGs.
Also there are 4 new medical schools proposed for Florida(FSU, UCF, FAU and FIU), this will mean less clinical spots and residencies for IMGs.
And finally President Bush wants a 10% decrease in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals in the 2006 budget.
All this facts should concern you for the future of IMGs .

as someone with primary lymphedema I am most happy with podiatry and know of the training they receive.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

The problem I have with DO schools is their acceptance standards aren't just slightly below that of the allopathic MD schools, but FAR less than the allopathic schools. DO schools, with a few exceptions, are not respected internationally.

The problem I have with DO schools is their acceptance standards aren't just slightly below that of the allopathic MD schools, but FAR less than the allopathic schools. DO schools, with a few exceptions, are not respected internationally.

fsu has been open for a while. ucf and fiu are in the process of presenting their proposals, but the short sighted regents board is giving them resistance. fau has no plans for any med school.

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Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

Many international countries do not bother to check by themselves what a DO school is really about and how similar their academic programs are with allopathic schools. Some countries apply the strict definition of Osteopathy and believe it is like chiropractic because in those countires that is what a chiropractor is called. Take Spain for example.