Dr. Orthochick: Helpful Advice

Me: Hi, I'm Dr. Orthochick, I'm a resident working with Dr. Calm. I noticed you were here last month. How have things been going since the last time you were here? Did something happen in between your last visit and now?

Patient: Where did you go to med school at?

Me: Uh, I just graduated from UCLA in June

Patient: Well, my son was just accepted into a DO program. But he's not sure if he should pursue a DO degree or if he should go to an MD school. My daughter is in her second year of med school at Virginia in their DO program there and she said...blah blah blah...

Me: Uh, are you having any pain in your hands or other joints? Are you having trouble opening a jar?

Patient: No, I'm just here to find out what my son should do for medical school.

Call me crazy, but that seems like a waste of a co-pay. In addition to being a waste of my time. I told her that a DO degree is pretty much the same thing as an MD, it's harder for them to match into dermatology but then again it's almost impossible for anyone to match into dermatology, so that's not saying much. If you want to be a dermatologist then choose parents who are on the faculty of dermatology at a program.

Also, I wasn't sure how to present that one to Dr. Calm. "Ms. Smith is a 58 year old lady who we see for rheumatoid arthritis, she's doing well on Enbrel and she wants to know if her son should go to DO school?" Actually, that's pretty much what I said. Dr. Calm was equally confused. He did not have any words of wisdom for her.