What is a DO?

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, or DOs, are fully licensed physicians who practice across the complete spectrum of medicine.  DOs diagnose illness, prescribe medications, perform surgery, deliver babies, care for patients in hospitals and clinics, and practice in every medical and surgical specialty.

What distinguishes osteopathic physicians is not the scope of medicine they are able to practice, but the philosophy and additional training they bring to the care of their patients.

The Osteopathic Approach

Osteopathic medicine is grounded in a whole-person approach to care.

DOs are trained to consider the many factors that influence a person's health, including the relationship among the body's systems, lifestyle, environment, prevention, and physical, mental, and emotional well-being.  Rather than focusing only on a disease or individual symptom, osteopathic physicians are taught to understand the patient as a whole.

The osteopathic approach emphasizes listening to patients, developing meaningful physician-patient relationships, preventing illness when possible, and partnering with patients in decisions about their health.

Osteopathic physicians do not simply treat a condition.  They care for the person who has it.

The Four Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine

The philosophy of osteopathic medicine is expressed through four foundational tenets:

1. The body is a unit, and the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.
3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
4. Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of body unity, self-regulation, and the relationship between structure and function.

These principles have guided the osteopathic profession for generations and continue to influence how DOs approach patients in every area of medicine.

Comprehensive Medical Education

Becoming a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine requires extensive medical education and clinical training.

DOs complete four years of education at an accredited college of osteopathic medicine.  Following medical school, physicians continue their training through residency and, for many specialties, fellowship programs.

Osteopathic physicians must meet state medical licensure requirements and may pursue board certification in their chosen medical specialties and subspecialties.

DOs practice throughout the healthcare system, including:

• Family medicine and other primary care specialties
• Emergency medicine
• Internal medicine
• Pediatrics
• Obstetrics and gynecology
• Psychiatry
• Anesthesiology
• General and specialty surgery
• Medical and surgical subspecialties
• Academic medicine and medical research
• Hospital and healthcare leadership

A DO is a physician, with the additional distinction of osteopathic medical training and philosophy.

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

An important component of osteopathic medical education is additional training in the musculoskeletal system and the relationship between structure and function.

DO students learn Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, including hands-on diagnostic and treatment techniques collectively known as Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment, or OMT.

OMT may be used by appropriately trained physicians as one component of evaluating and treating certain conditions.  The amount that individual DOs incorporate OMT into their practice varies according to specialty, practice setting, patient needs, and the physician's clinical approach.

Even when OMT may not be routinely performed, the principles of osteopathic medicine remain an important part of how many DOs understand health, disease, and the relationship among the body's systems.

DOs and MDs

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and Doctors of Medicine are both physicians.

Both complete medical school and graduate medical education.  Both may prescribe medications, perform procedures and surgery, practice in hospitals and other healthcare settings, and pursue careers in any medical specialty.

The distinction lies primarily in the osteopathic philosophy and the additional education DOs receive in osteopathic principles, the musculoskeletal system, and osteopathic manipulative medicine.

Today, DOs work alongside MD physicians and other healthcare professionals throughout the United States to care for patients and communities.

Osteopathic Medicine in West Virginia

Osteopathic medicine has a proud and longstanding presence in the Mountain State.

For generations, osteopathic physicians have cared for West Virginians in communities large and small, including many rural and underserved areas where access to physicians is especially important.  DOs serve West Virginia as family physicians, specialists, surgeons, emergency physicians, educators, researchers, physician executives, and healthcare leaders.

West Virginia is also home to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, helping educate future generations of osteopathic physicians who will serve patients in West Virginia and throughout the nation.

The West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association is proud to represent and advance this tradition while supporting the physicians and future physicians who will carry osteopathic medicine forward.

A Distinctive Philosophy and Complete Medical Care

Osteopathic medicine combines the science and technology of modern medicine with a philosophy centered on the whole person.

DOs are physicians.

They practice in every specialty.

They care for patients throughout every stage of life.

And they bring the distinctive principles of osteopathic medicine to the patients and communities they serve.