The resolution was submitted by a group of DO students and DOs to the Student Osteopathic Medical Association.
In response to a high level of interest about the topic, an informal survey was attempted to gauge opinion whether a formal polling about the degree change should be established. The survey was posted in the student doctor forums and the Facebook sites of the osteopathic and allopathic communities.
After 7 days of polling, only 115 votes were cast.
In the osteopathic community
- 15/74 (20%) opposed
- 56/74 (75%) supported
- 3/74 (4%) remained neutral
In the allopathic community
- 14/41 (34%) opposed
- 23/41 (56%) supported
- 4/41 (9%) remained neutral
The public should be reminded that this survey is unscientific and the identity of the voters (osteopathic or allopathic) is unknown. By analyzing the traffic sources to this website, it is fair to assume that there are more students than practicing physicians.
One interesting conclusion from these results is that the younger MDs or students (2/3) are not opposed to a possible change of the DO degree to MD,DO. In contrast to the results from the survey posted in Sermo, 54% of MDs are opposed to the MD, DO degree. This contrast between the practicing MDs and younger/student MDs show there is more understanding and camaraderie among the younger generation as one out of five medical students are DO students.
Among the osteopathic participation, there is a large support for a formal polling about the change of DO title degree to MD, DO. However, the lack of participation in the voting is overwhelming, with about 400 page views of the resolution and 270 page views of the survey results from Sermo during the 7 days of the polling period (second week of posting). It is fair to assume that more than ¾ of the readers refused to participate in the polling. Several reasons can be assumed, including the possibilities that some readers are not from the osteopathic or allopathic profession, lack of interest in the polling by the osteopathic community, and other unknown reasons.
In conclusion, the resolution calling for a formal polling about DO degree change to MD, DO draws large interest (as measured by viewership) among the osteopathic/medical community. It has drawn more than 1000 viewings in less than 3 weeks, maybe because it is provocative and bold. The overwhelming lack of participation and the large support from the participants do not allow any conclusion to be drawn from this informal survey.
A poll that is spamed only on the DO portion of a medical student blog will obviously bias who ends up responding to the poll. It is painfully obvious that some of the so-called "allopathic" supporters are merely DO students who voted on the allopathic question as well to bias the poll
ReplyDeleteThe poll was posted on facebook of AMSA and allopatic section of studentdoctor forums, but it was then censored bc it was pertinent only to the osteopathic section.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of discussion regarding the osteopathic degree in the past few years. Of any of the proposed changes (MDO, DOM, MD DO, etc.), with the exception of keeping the original "DO", the "MD, DO" has the most thought and meaning behind it. I think it identifies our traditional medical training, confirms our unique osteopathic philosophies, and also has a historical significance as it was AT Still who carried this first title: "AT Still, MD, DO". While I am not proposing a change, if the osteopathic degree does evolve, than I would argue that this is the best choice. --"MichiganDO"
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