TL;DR: If you’re looking for a physician, either is fine!
When looking online for a doctor, you might have noticed that some physicians are MDs and others are DOs. MD stands for doctor of medicine and DO stands for doctor of osteopathic medicine. So what’s the difference, and does it matter? Practically, there is no real difference! There is some slight variation in medical school training, but both degrees allow you to be a fully licensed and practicing physician in the United States.
❓ What does MD vs DO training look like?
There are two pathways to becoming a physician in the United States: osteopathic medicine and allopathic medicine. Going to an osteopathic medical school gives you the title DO and going to an allopathic medical school gives you the title MD. Allopathic medicine is traditionally seen as focusing on diagnosing and treating a disease. Traditionally, DO training has been thought of as more ‘whole person focused’, but allopathic medical schools now also focus on not only disease states, but also how social and economic factors play into health. DO programs have also traditionally focused on primary care, such as family medicine or pediatrics, and around 57% of DO students go on to work in primary care fields.
DO medical students have to learn about osteopathic manipulation, which includes things like myofascial manipulation, traction, and soft tissue manipulation, which are hands-on treatments meant to help treat muscle and joint problems. However, many DOs don’t use it in their practice as physicians. DO students also have a different set of board exams, called COMLEX (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States), but most also take the allopathic board exams from the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination ), called Step exams. Both MDs and DOs have to do residency training in their specialty. Residency lasts between three and seven years, depending on the specialty, and many physicians go onto fellowship training in subspecialties, for example cardiology or infectious disease.
Outside of the small differences in medical school training, research published in 2023 shows that there is no difference between quality of care for hospitalized patients who were treated by MDs vs DOs.
As a medical student, I’ve had both MD and DO teachers and have worked with MD and DO research mentors. As a patient, I’ve seen both MD and DO providers.
Don’t worry about picking one over the other, both degrees are basically the same!
