MD vs DO: The Uncomfortable Truth (& Which Is Better)

There are lots of DOs that do well treating patients. Most didn’t have the grades to get into MD school, although some are into chiropractic and alternative medicine so they don’t value the extra training in medicine but prefer to identify as someone more “wholistic”.

D.Os look for the root cause of the issue. MDs just dope you up and send you on your way.. SIMPLE

MCAT and GPA....what is missing is a score for creativity and their ain;t one...but there is more to a human being than MCAT AND GPA.

I have a friend who is a psychiatrist and MD. He said more than once that it required an abnormal amount of masochism to go thru US medical school, internship and residency. In fact, he said that had these individuals had their level of masochism lowered with treatment they would not put up with the abuse that would be put on them in order to become an American MD. He did not mention DOs. Just a different angle for you to consider. On a tangent my friend was also a concert pianist.

I’ve only ever had an issue with one physician practice and it belonged to a DO. DOs are often women in my experience too. So I’ll never do business with a DO practice …. They just seem less professional.

You should have gone into gastro. The US has a glut of plastic surgeons desperately looking for patients. Gastro docs are booked months in advance and we need more. Don't just chase money.

I always thought D.O. doctors were cooler

Much of Rural United States would love to have ANY Physician! In fact, all states should enact PA’s and NP’s to practice in rural areas of the US unsupervised!! Medical Education/Training initiatives have progressed to enable this practice!!

I’m a PA and I just loooovve it when MDs do not consider as equals but sure as heck treat us with a lot more respect when they need coverage for their vacation.

As a lay person, I understand O.D doctors enfasize prevention approaches, and M.D doctors just push drugs on you; therefore I couldn't care less their scores of MCAT, etc testing because at the end of the day, it is the human approach and effectiveness that matter; myself A Chemical.engineer I have seen the astronomical EGO of some Ivy league graduates, but once in the field, I observed the graduates from State universities are more qualified to solve real problems, and optimum social skills

Yes, some APNs, PAs and even some social workers accept the title of doctor, and not correct the patients. This is a form of fraud.

MD is superior to DO, period

I don’t like DO for the only reason I have to do rotations all over the place

As an outsider looking in, I think it has more to do with us vs them thinking than anything else. Sure MD is more competitive to get into, but at this point it’s probably because of the artificial demand of MD. This would also create a negative feedback loop. Anyways, if I do end up applying for medical school I will absolutely be applying to both.

I am a retired RN. I really didn't see any difference. I remember one DO that became a radiologist. I think he was able to do that by joining the navy.

Thats why its better to get a MD/Ph.D….you’re covered in all aspects of ‘medicine’. Yea, the Ph.D students think,rightfully so, that the MD students get all the ‘glory’ (i.e higher pay cf to a Ph.D) for ‘not really knowing much ab medicine’, or anything else either.
It is true, Medical School is more competitive then an Osteopathic Medicine School. If given a seat btw a Medical School or Osteopathic School, 99% of applicants would choose the Med.Sch.
The ‘beef’ btw MD & DO is the School & training,not so much when an established physician,ab 3-4-5 yrs post residency. Thats why a MD/PhD is best,they dont have ‘beef’ w/any medical profession or professional. There is no time or neuron to give a fat f*ck what other medical professionals’ personal hangups are.
When physicians are established, mid 30’s-40’s-50’s etc,its not going to matter what follows your name on your lab coat. If your patient trusts you ‘on their ‘team, theyre going to be compliant to your opinions for their Tx.
If a physician doesnt have compliant patients whom have faith in their doctor, its not going to matter what degree from what institution, that physician isnt going to be an effective physician to any patient, unless that physician is a Pathologist.

OMM. It’s a farce. I’ve never met a DO doing it. It’s like Coke and Pepsi!
I would go to school in Mexico before getting a DO degree.

Current M1 in an MD program.
Only got into one MD program got into three DO.
I had always wanted to do MD but purely due to opportunity for residency.
It's actually a self sufficient cycle as to why DO has a stigma. The doctors that come out are working hard to break it, but since there are few of them, and as he said in the video, opportunity isn't there as much, premed students don't want to apply DO as first option, bringing down MCAT medians and GPAs. Until DOs can fill enough of the specialties that even more competitive premed students will apply there, the cycle will continue.
I have many friends doing and that have done DO.
They are awesome and I love the DO pathway to medicine. Arguably they have to do a lot more work to get anywhere and that's very admirable and should be recognized.
I know that many people are working hard to break the stigmas and I hope that one day, DO and MD programs will have the same scores, and the only difference will be the OMM curriculum.

Why do you pronounce “GYN” instead of saying the letters?

I agree and I am here for knowledge I just feel it sa personal thing that everyone deciding their title. I am looking into DO simply because of the holistic approach being something more personal because of the type of person I am. I really think it's just dependent upon the risk and sacrifice you are willing to take with your title and sticking with that. Very important to do research prior though. Thank you for the video!

I know of a great deal of medical doctors and physiotherapists moving away from allopathic practice to osteopathic medicine and others alike. So I don't know where you get this data that it's supposedly the other way around.

Do D.O.'s follow any similar techniques as Chiropractors? I've seen many DO's doing joint adjustments in what looks like the same way as a chiropractor does them. On the other side, I've heard first hand MD's condemning all chiropractors as charlatans and witch doctors.

From the beginning of my life 83=years ago the doc who delivered and me and was my primary care physician for first 23 years. During that time I only received on short treatment which he just massage my neck and the is due was taken care of. I find the difference between mMD is arrogance. Some of the MD specialists particularly.

"Vaccuum cleaner's nephew" 😂😂😂😂😂😂👏👏👏👏👏☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️🎖🏆🏅🏆🎖🏆🏅🏆🎖🏆🏅

I am an MD. But I know some DO's who are extremely smart. The biggest issue is as a DO, it is much harder to get into residency. But once you are in, everyone is on an equal playing field. No one cares what your letters are. Residents just care about when they can get some sleep.

My PCP who is a MD had to stop practicing due to his father needing 24 hour care. My doctor referred me to a list of doctors who are MDs and DOs. I chose a DO from the list and honestly I'm looking for a doctor who will listen and show compassion.

FACTS: MD schools are much harder to get in than any DO schools. I have not met any medical applicant who prefers to attend a DO school over a MD school. in other words, DO is their second choice. As a obvious result, MD students are smarter and better prepared.

In Europe this distinction doesn't even exist. The U.S. has two kinds of doctors with equal rights but different letters because of a 19th-century disagreement about bloodletting. It's just a historical accident. Medicine is just medicine, and it should always be evidence-based. There's not such thing as two valid sciences of the body. Science is science; what works, works. The rest is just religion and cult.

I no longer use the word "patient". With doctors practicing extreme defensive medicine, "patient" is not appropriate. "Client"explains the relationship better. With an 80 year score card, in my life there have been several useful interventions (broken bone etc). However doctors in my life (mainly Australia) have been mostly useless and occasionally dangerous. I was given an unnecessary cardiac stent (the chest pain came from intercostal muscles which I later fixed myself by lifting weights). As a daily distance runner for sixty years I rarely met a doctor who didn't tell me that running was bad for me. Yeah, right. My own PhD is in teaching productivity. The first law of teaching is to know who the hell you are talking to, what they know already, where they have come from. When I see a doctor for the first time, I take an information sheet listing my diet, supplements, exercise routine and history. Universally the doctors I have met have ignored it. Nowadays I have collected a large offline medical database from the Internet and avoid doctors whenever possible. (Yes, there is trash on the Internet, but also choice. Doctors face to face also retail trash from dubious research and practice). At 80 y.o. I do 60 pushups a day, do an extensive workout, walk many kilometres. I take no medications. None of this is "luck". Medical incompetence is not altogether the fault of doctors. Medical research is in its infancy. The estimates I've seen of the number of cells in a human body range from 27 trillion to 70 trillion. There are at least an equal number of bugs hanging out in the corridors - viruses, bacteria, god knows what else, all with their own DNA. Then there are the emergent behaviours of these things working locally in teams. Plus billions of chemical & electrical reactions happening every second. How can you possibly control the research variables in a scene like that? The only real hope down the track is AI modelling, and they can only be models. To be useful at all doctors need a lot of common sense, keen personal observation and plenty of honest humility. That has been hard to find.

Respect DO school like the old one in Iowa and other old established schools The problem I have is many proprietary mediocre DO schools sprung up like mushroom. They accept anyone. I have a nephew who didn’t take the MCAT, did not have to write any essays and applied to only 7 DO schools and got in the one in Marrrrit Island in FL

I’m sick and tired of the narcissistic and hierarchical behaviour in healthcare professional. All the public care about is safety and competence. Only your parents care about comparing you to others

@8:30 I live with Cranio-cervical instability - and let me tell you - UMM if I DIDNT constantly adjust and readjust the cervical facial bones in my body, my CSF Backs up (since it cannot drain into the IJV proprerly, and i go through a huge myriad of cogntive symptoms.

They should just convert DO schools to MD programs. DO as a separate school doesn't make sense when the students are practically learning the same as MD students!

Doctor of osteopathic medicine and doctor of medicine graduates are equal I have a pediatrician who went to Md school and he views me holistically the only difference in Do school is the training in osteopathic manipulative medicine

There were 3 DOs and 3 MDs in my residency class. Nobody was better prepared than the other. In the end, there is basically zero difference except DOs get OMT training.

Every D.O. I've met are incredible and are the better choice if going into primary care. OMM is useless.

I went to two MD’s at two different hospitals in the VA system.
Neither knew their how to talk to me about my diabetes.
I went to a DO and have been happy ever since.
MD’s suck at communicating!