UNT Health Science Center leaderships have been planning to start up an allopathic medical school on campus for the past two years. The stated reasons for supporting of such a plan include the prestige of an MD school, potential of increase in research funding and clinical rotation sites.
Like on any issues, there are members in the same family who support, those who oppose, and those remain neutral.
The supporters of the idea of an MD school along side with TCOM may think the status of TCOM would be enhanced because it would demonstrate the parity of the two schools. Also, they think that there is no difference between the training of MD and DO except for the component of OMT, whose efficacy is still questionable as we are in the age of evidence-based medicine. Like all DOs have experienced the lack of public recognition of the DO degree title, the supporters think they should deserve better, the prestige of a MD title after all the long years of hard work, the training in ACGME programs and a huge student loan debt. Their wishful thinking that TCOM and MD school sharing the same campus is a step forward in a possible potential of the merger of the two professions.
The misconception that osteopathic profession is going to fade away into the past has been proven wrong with the historical merger of the two professions, which took place in California in 1962. The Californian merger actually strengthened the profession and the newly MDs experienced discriminations from their MD colleagues. Osteopathic medicine has enjoyed the exponential growth over the past three decades. Today, 20% of medical students are DO students, and 60,000 DOs are actively practicing, i.e., representing 7% of physician work force. In 10 years, 25% of medical students are DO students and there will be 100,000 DOs practicing, i.e., representing 10% of physician work force. The DO title will become a household brand very soon.
I recognize that DO schools still have a lot to do to perfect the integration of the osteopathic philosophy and practice in our training curriculum for us to appreciate the holistic approach in the patient care. However, the practice of medicine is a blend of an art and science. I believe DOs approach patients from a different perspective in a subtle way.
Those who remain neutral on the issue because the issue does not affect them directly as they have other things to worry with their busy practices and the impending cut in the medicare physician fee.
I would like to share my thoughts why I am supporting the cause of protecting the osteopathic heritage of UNTHSC. I am ethnically Vietnamese and grew up part of my childhood in France. I came to the USA at the age 19. English is my third language and is still a broken English in three. Osteopathic profession has given me the opportunity to become a vitreo-retinal surgeon and neuro-ophthalmologist even though I had set out to become a holistic and integrative physician. I graduated from TCOM in 2002 and went on for trainings across the country until 2009. I am only in my first year of practice in a multi-specialty group of 3 other MD ophthalmologists and 6 optometrists.
I support the preservation of osteopathic entity of UNTHSC because Texas law says so. TCOM has been a success story as it has been ranked among the top 50 medical schools for primary care for the past 9 years and the students have achieved the highest average scores in COMLEX step 1, 2 and 3 for the past few years in a row. I want that current and future TCOM students receive the best training opportunity. The push for an MD school has been disruptive in the education of the current TCOM students as there has been a large exodus of basic science and clinical faculty. I oppose to the establishment of an MD school at UNTHSC because:
- It negates the fact that TCOM is a full-fledged medical school.
- It is purely discriminatory against DOs and implies that DOs are second-class physicians or do not have the full potential to become specialists or researchers.
- It is a travesty to waste millions of tax-payers’ dollars to pay for a parallel administrative structure of the two schools with the same purpose of educating future physicians.
- The process of starting-up a new MD school may take 10 years, while expansion of TCOM can help to alleviate the looming physician shortage.
- There are two new MD schools in Texas, one El Paso and Brownsville, and more are being planned in Austin and Amarillo. Therefore, we need to increase the number of DO graduates if we want make DO a household brand sooner. Furthermore, recent study of “medical social mission” published in the Annals of Medicine placed TCOM at the top of list of all the medical schools in Texas. TCOM model fulfills its mission of responding to the medical care needs of the state.
- The addition of a pharmacy school would have enhanced the stature of UNTHSC, which developed a plan to start a pharmacy school in 2004. However, this has been relegated to the UNT Dallas campus.
I do recognize there are disagreements among a number of DOs with some of the AOA policies. I am urging you to put aside our disagreements and let’s help the TCOM students to get the best possible clinical rotation sites. If the UNTHSC leaderships think they can change a state law prohibiting UNTHSC from granting MD degree, we can join our efforts to mandate JPS, a local county hospital, to be affiliated with the only medical school in the county.
I am urging you to show your support of our alma mater by contributing financial donations to the TOMA/TCOM Task Force. We need to defeat the plan at the next legislature session opening in January 2011. Please contact your local representatives to support TCOM issue.
In conclusion, osteopathic medicine has survived the past two centuries and is here to stay forever. This profession has given us the opportunity to achieve our professional goals. Let’s be proud of our heritage and start upholding the Osteopathic Oath. Let’s end with paraphrase from president John F Kennedy’s a famous quote: “Ask not what your profession can do for you, ask what you can do for your profession.”
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