MD or DO: What is the Difference?

Are you an allopath or an osteopath? Photo by cogdogblog [Happy New Year! Did you know you can join The Short Coat Student Lounge on Facebook, and help us with the show? We livestream there every time we record, and if you’re there you can help us make sure we get all the angles.] A while back we got a somewhat provocative listener question: do osteopathic medicine students have a disadvantage in entering competitive specialties? Our answer back then was not really. And we weren’t wrong, but recently Dr. Ian Storch of the DO or Do Not Podcast offered to sit with us and expand on our ideas. Of course, M3s Jenna Mullins, Allison Klimesh, and MD/PhD student Miranda Schene were only too happy to get some new information on the topic. And he brought with him two of his podcasting DO students, Amir Khiabani and Courtney Merlo. Among the clarifying points they offered: Why do people choose an osteopathic education over an allopathic education?What is the real deal with board exams–do DOs really have to take both the USMLE and COMLEX boards?Do osteopaths really experience bias when trying to match in subspecialties?What is osteopathic manipulative medicine, anyway? We Want to Hear From You How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime  or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!