A common question that many students have is, “Where can a D.O. practice?”
Here is a map provided by the AOA to show where osteopathic physicians have practice rights.
DO’s have full practice rights in most major countries around the world, and the number countries that accept osteopathic medical degrees continues to grow. More can be found on the AOA’s website.
This is a great reference. Thank you!
Much of the limitation on DO practice rights is because of the name “osteopathy” or “osteopathic”. Some countries do not realize that DOs and MDs receive essentially the same training and that DOs can do most, but not all, MD residencies. In some countries, there are local doctors called “osteopaths” that practice what we would call “chiropractic” in the United States and Canada. Local osteopaths in these countries have lobbied to deny practice rights to DOs due to the similarity in names.
So, perhaps the solutions is that given the similarity in training between DO and MD, that perhaps an “MDO” degree would be better, if osteopathic physicians still believe that OMM is a major difference (most DOs that I know no longer do OMM, unless they do physiatry or rehabilitative medicine). Using MDO instead of just DO would probably result in greater acceptance for practice rights internationally.
This is very true. Many DOs have lobbied for the degree to change to MDO, but have been unsuccessful. This is something that the AOA needs to consider frequently. I don’t have any say in this since I am just a student and this site is not affiliated with the AOA in any way.
Frankly, MDO sounds so lame. It definitely doesn’t sound like a medical degree. We ought to change it to MD, DO (Doctor of Medicine, Diploma of Osteopathy), just like how AT Still went by. Here, DO is indicated as a non-doctoral degree, like MPH or MBA. This will instantly give international recognition of our true entity, and also any Americans that are ignorant of DOs will no longer be confused. As a result OMT will be available to even more people and DO schools will gain even more popularity, since to medical students this means they will gain two degrees in four years of training, not just MD degree. Seriously, this change must be done for the future of Osteopathic Medicine.