Osteopath Healthcare Providers Discussed By Injury Lawyer

You may have seen the designation DO sometimes after a physician’s name.  Some people get confused thinking that DO means Doctor of Optometry.  In fact DO means Doctor of Osteopathy which is different than the designation for an Optometrist which is O.D.Osteopath healthcare providers, are increasingly becoming equivalent to medical doctors in most respects.  Some people still maintain that the quality of education of osteopaths is not on a par with that of a medical doctor but that too is now subject to dispute.

Where osteopaths tend to be filling certain gaps is in the field of family doctors, pediatricians and other primary care providers.

Many osteopaths do tend to gravitate toward primary medicine.  In part that is due to the focus of the field of osteopathy.  However, many highly specialized fields such as surgery and cardiology are essentially run by medical doctors who sometimes hesitate in terms of allowing osteopaths into those fields.

Schools of Osteopathy are graduate schools that admit people who have a 4-year undergraduate degree and who have typically received some pre-medical training in terms of biology and chemistry and other related fields.

Within the field of Osteopathy there is still a focus on musculoskeletal manipulations and indeed osteopaths will engage in these types of manipulations that are similar to chiropractic manipulations.

The osteopaths however receive generalized medical training, the same as a medical doctor does.

As of 2015 all osteopathic and MD programs are going to be accredited by a single agency, thereby eliminating any differences in that regard.  In addition, osteopathic graduates are increasingly being admitted to highly competitive residency programs across all of the specialties.

For more information on healthcare providers see the other pages on this site.