The difference between M.D. and D.O.
What is the difference between a medical doctor (MD) and doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO)?
Spoiler alert: There isn't much of one.
The main difference is our philosophy and approach to patient care. MDs focus more on allopathic medicine, which include research-based medical and surgical treatments. While DOs have more of an osteopathic approach that focuses on whole body and preventative care.
In terms of education and training, here in the US both types of doctors must complete 4 years of undergraduate education, 4 years at an accredited medical or osteopathic medical school, and 3-7 years of hands on residency training. In 2020, a fully combined MD-DO residency match occurred, making these 2 paths to medical care even more standardized.
As a medical professional, to me, MD and DO licenses are often interchangeable and alone do not suggest a difference in medical care. What I would focus on instead is the doctor him/herself: their capability to address your issues and concerns, whether their specialty and approach align with what you are looking for, their willingness to answer your questions clearly and honestly, and their ability to provide you calm and confidence in their care.
Hopefully this helps clear up some of the “confusion” I’ve been seeing online. (And yes I put confusion in quotations, because in this day and age of readily available information and google, it’s really just a little bit of laziness to blast out this type of misinformation. )
