Videos!

Better late than never!

Long time, no write

So, as it turns out, everything people said about medical school being very demanding and stealing all your free time was correct! We've had two anatomy exams so far, and have another coming up in 8 days. Things are going pretty well at school, and I especially like the Clinical Exam class we're getting into now. We've already had a standardized patient encounter (interacting with an actor trained to play the role of patient) and I have two coming this week.

My experience from working at St. Joseph and Mercy Hospitals has helped me immensely. I'm really familiar with vitals and history taking, and that has been the bulk of Clinical Exam class so far. I'm thankful to all the doctors and nurses I've worked with over the years, because they've taught me a lot.

We had another lecture about the history of osteopathic medicine, and it really helped me understand why and how this profession came about. Allopathic medicine was in the "heroic" phase, and the prominent medications of the time were arsenic, mercury, alcohol, etc. George Washington actually died as a result of medical treatment for a SORE THROAT. He was bled to the point of severe anemia, given mercury compounds to purge his bowels, had his skin blistered, etc. Today, it is believed his cause of death was a combination of blood letting, mercury poisoning and dehydration.

Different medical philosophies started springing up. Homeopathic schools, who awarded an MD degree, grew in popularity...because they didn't kill their patients! They believed that the most diluted medications were the most effective. The "strongest" medications were like a drop of "medicine" in an olympic-sized swimming pool. So, they might have even helped some patients by hydrating them, but the important fact here is they did not cause undue harm.

Other philosophies sprung up as well - the Thomsonian movement (which emphasized botanic medicines) gave rise to Eclectic medicine (which emphasized treating symptoms with nutrition and strong, complex medications) and Physiomedical medicine (which used only medicine from plants that grew towards the sun!). All of these types of schools awarded the MD degree! By 1930 legislation had emerged to force them all to convert to allopathic schools or to close.

The reason that osteopathic medicine has survived is because osteopaths shared one important strength with allopaths: a strict adherence to scientific principles. When scientific research brought about new discoveries, allopaths and osteopaths integrated these new findings, whereas the Eclectic and Physiomedical physicians adhered firmly to their traditional beliefs.

An important thing to note here: the medical schools which eventually closed or were swallowed up by the allopaths all awarded MD degrees. Eclectic, Physiomedical and Homeopathic doctors were all running around using their MD degree, even though their education was very different. When the first school of osteopathic medicine formed, they did not want the same degree as all these other doctors. They did not want to be confused with doctors who did not have a strong scientific basis for their education. So this is the basis for creation of the D.O. degree.

Anyway, moving on. Ryan's parents visited for Labor Day weekend and we had a great time. I took two whole days off from studying and had a wonderful time at the beach, dining out, etc. We went to Myakka River State Park and spotted all sorts of wildlife, including a gigantic alligator. He had to be at least 12 feet long, and I couldn't believe how big his head and torso was. It was like seeing a real life monster, but really cool :) I can't wait to go back to that park during the dry season, there are so many hiking trails and activities to do.

I really love Florida. Every day I look around and can't believe how beautiful my surroundings are. There's so much to do here and the weather is gorgeous. It's hard to believe that my friends and family in Buffalo are starting to enjoy fall, and I admit that I'm going to miss fall in Buffalo. I was totally unaware of the seasons changing until I saw a Facebook post about "sweater weather." Down here, I'm more familiar with sweaty weather.

Hope all is well in Buffalo. I won't see the game today, but I'll have my fingers crossed for the Bills. OK, that's another thing I miss - Sundays in Buffalo :)

Squish the fish!

Last one!

Going up to our unit:

Photos, cont.

Photos, cont

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Just some new photos of the place.  Interior photos coming soon!

A quick lesson on osteopathic medicine

Here's my quick, condensed explanation of osteopathic medicine, for those of you wondering:

There are two types of physicians in the US who are given full, unrestricted medical licenses and can become any type of specialist physician:  

1) Allopathic physicians - M.D.

2) Osteopathic physicians - D.O.

(Physicians educated in foreign countries have other degrees, most often the M.B.B.S.)

The difference between the two can be likened to the difference between the two degrees that American dentists hold.  There's the D.M.D. (Doctor of Medical Dentistry) and the D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery).  Both types of dentists can treat patients medically and surgically, however the difference lies in the emphasis of the education.  DMDs have a more medical emphasis in their education, and DDSs have a more surgical emphasis.   Usually, they will practice in almost exactly the same fashion.

Similarly, MDs and DOs differ in the emphasis of their education.  Allopathic physicians trace their roots back to Hippocrates in B.C. Greece.  Allopathic medicine has a disease-oriented approach in which treating disease is the number one concern.

Osteopathic medicine originated from Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, MD, who was unsatisfied with allopathic treatments during the 1830s and believed medicine should be practiced differently.   After much research, he founded the first osteopathic medical school.  Osteopathic education emphasizes a patient-oriented approach, and maintenance of health as the first priority.  Osteopathic physicians learn all the same facts and use all the same types of medications and treatments as allopathic physicians, but they have one more "tool in the toolbelt" - osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM).  OMM describes several techniques in which the physician physically manipulates the body to aid the body in healing, and is used most frequently for musculoskeletal disorders.  

While DOs have their own board exam (the COMLEX) and their own residencies, many DOs also take the same board exam as MDs (the USMLE) and can attend all residencies open to MDs.   For many patient complaints, treatment from MDs and DOs will be exactly the same.   In this day and age, many MDs have chosen to adopt a more holistic, patient-centered approach to medicine.  The main difference is that DOs are trained in OMM, and have that method of treatment to add.  I would be very surprised to find a single hospital that doesn't have both types of physicians on staff. 

Because the osteopathic profession is much younger than allopathic medicine, there are fewer osteopathic schools and fewer practicing DOs.  In fact, DOs make up about 8% of all practicing physicians in the US, but the profession is the most rapidly growing segment of health care.  

Hope this helps a few more people understand the DO philosophy and the difference between the two degrees.  I love the DO philosophy and can't wait to start school on Monday!