Is a D.O. an M.D?

Q:  Please explain the difference between an "M.D." and a "D.O."

A:  Both are doctors of medicine. An M.D. is an allopathic doctor, while a D.O. is an osteopathic doctor. Traditionally, medical schools offering the M.D. degree were disease-focused; that is, they did not discuss wellbeing and health promotion, and they shied away from addressing life stresses and diet as contributors to symptoms. Allopathic medical schools now are including these kinds of topics in their curricula.

Osteopathic medical schools instead focus on holistic medicine, emphasizing the concepts that the body can heal itself and that physical manipulation has health benefits.

LuAnn Moraski is a D.O. and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Medicine/Pediatrics) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She also serves as the Program Director for the Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program.

Dr. Moraski explained that both D.O. and M.D. students study from the same textbooks and can take the same exams to earn a medical license.

In fact, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) makes the following points in noting the similarities between D.O.s and M.D.s:

• Applicants to both D.O. and M.D. medical colleges typically have a four-year undergraduate degree with an emphasis on scientific courses.
• Both D.O.s and M.D.s complete four years of basic medical education.
• After medical school, both D.O.s and M.D.s can choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine - such as surgery, family practice or psychiatry - after completing a residency program (typically two to six years of additional training).
• Both D.O.s and M.D.s must pass comparable state licensing exams.
• D.O.s and M.D.s both practice in fully accredited and licensed health care facilities.

The AOA notes that there are differences in focus and training, however:

• Osteopathic medical schools emphasize training students to be primary care physicians.
• D.O.s practice a "whole person" approach to medicine. Instead of just treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they regard the body as integrated whole.
• Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive health care.
• D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system.

Nowadays, actual differences in the practices of doctors rely more on the personalities and philosophies of the doctors themselves than on the D.O. or M.D. degree.

Julie L. Mitchell, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She practices internal medicine at the Froedtert & Medical College General Internal Medicine Clinic - East. Her column appears in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.