Research news
A recent JAMA study explored patient outcomes following surgical procedures provided by DO and MD surgeons.
Does a surgeon’s undergraduate medical training impact patient outcomes? That is the question that researchers set out to answer when they conducted a study that was published in JAMA in October. The study examined patients’ health and wellbeing after surgery performed by DO and MD surgeons. It used Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2019, and it found no statistically significant differences in mortality, readmissions or length of stay between patients who underwent common surgical operations with DO vs. MD surgeons.
Findings consistent with previous work
“These findings are consistent with prior work, which demonstrated no detectable difference in mortality among hospitalists by medical school training,” the study’s authors wrote. “Taken together, this work should reinforce to policymakers, hospital leadership, physicians and patients that any differences between the two U.S. medical school degree programs do not translate to quantifiable differences in the quality of in-patient care delivered by MD and DO physicians and surgeons.”
That study on hospitalists was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in May 2023. It found no differences between DO and MD hospitalists in the quality of care provided.
The information in these two studies will likely serve to reassure patients that both DOs and MDs are competent, skilled and professional physicians.
However, while these particular studies found that the quality of care provided by DOs and MDs is similar, DOs take a distinct approach to practicing medicine that involves treating patients as whole people and addressing a patient’s body, mind and spirit. In medical school, all DOs are trained to provide osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), in which they use their hands to diagnose illness and injury and encourage the body’s natural tendency toward self-healing.
In 2022, Brian Loveless, DO, wrote in The DO about several studies that demonstrated the effectiveness of OMT in alleviating several conditions, including lower back pain, postoperative ileus and concussion.
A DO’s perspective
Speaking about the recently published JAMA study, Joshua D. Lenchus, DO, third vice president of the AOA, said it is not surprising that researchers found no statistically significant differences in patient outcomes following surgical procedures performed by allopathic- and osteopathic-trained physicians.
“Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed in every state, and may practice in all fields and specialties of medicine without restriction,” noted Dr. Lenchus, who is also a past president of the Florida Medical Association and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association. “This study highlights the training equivalence between the two facets of medical training in the U.S. Having survived an era in which its physicians were prohibited from working at or admitting to most hospitals, the field of osteopathic medicine has blossomed incredibly. Today, more than 25% of all U.S. medical students attend DO schools. The authors rightfully conclude that the physician’s training, allopathic or osteopathic, matters little when our patients undergo surgical procedures.”
Ultimately, the study demonstrates that both DOs and MDs are highly qualified and prepared to handle whatever comes their way. Patients can rest assured knowing that both DOs and MDs provide excellent care.
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