Day 136: Doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.)2 min read

Today’s inane image of the day:

A photo from my road trip last summer — I find that taking the time to reflect upon moments of serenity and happiness really helps when the bleak winter starts to settle in.

A recent commenter posted on my “Contact Me” page asking for my thoughts on doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) and I thought it was an appropriate topic for an entry. This being said, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, or do my D.O. colleagues an injustice by trying to explain exactly what osteopathic medicine means, so I’m going to refer you to a guest post at Mind on Medicine [one of my favorite med student blogs] entitled, “My Doctor Has A D.O., What Is That?.” DrJonathan (currently a Family Medicine resident) does a fabulous job explaining what it means to be a doctor of osteopathic medicine.

As for my personal thoughts, I think that just noting that my own pediatrician and internist are D.O.s says a lot. As for why I didn’t choose to pursue osteopathic over allopathic medicine, well there a couple of reasons. Although it really is possible to go into any field of medicine as a DO, the osteopathic philosophy  goes hand in hand with primary care specialties such as Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology [as DrJonathan notes in the post] and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pursue primary care. Furthermore, there aren’t an overwhelming number of colleges of osteopathic medicine [although I seriously considered applying to MSU COM] and I preferred to stay in the area if possible. Basically, I do believe in holistic medicine and fully respect my osteopathic colleagues, but didn’t think it was the right fit for me.

Hopefully this answers your question!