A joint research group led by Assistant Professor Atsushi Miyawaki of the University of Tokyo Graduate School and Associate Professor Yusuke Tsugawa of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) analyzed large-scale medical data in the United States (aged 65 and over).Outcomes were found to be similar in inpatients treated by physicians who graduated from a medical school that taught only Western medicine (MD training school) and those who graduated from a medical school that taught mainly osteopathic medicine (DO training school).
There are two types of medical degrees in the United States.There is an MD (Medical Doctor) awarded for graduating from a medical school that teaches traditional Western medicine, and a DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) awarded for graduating from a medical school that teaches osteopathic medicine.Osteopathic medicine began at the end of the 2th century from a position different from that of Western medicine, focusing on improving the body's natural healing power through manual therapy and exercise therapy. MD doctors account for 19% of all doctors, but DO doctors are on the rise.There is no difference in the medical practices that can be performed by "physicians", but the difference in the actual quality of medical care was unclear.
The research group analyzed data from 17,918 patients (mean age 329,510 years, 79.8% female) treated by 59 physicians.Thirty-day postdischarge mortality rates were similar at 30% for MD physicians and 9.4% for DO physicians.Rates of readmission, length of stay, medical costs, number of inpatient consultations with specialists, ICU utilization, discharge destination (e.g., home or nursing home), and use of imaging and laboratory tests were similar.
The fact that the outcomes of patients treated by doctors from completely different medical schools were similar indicates that throughout the history of medical education in the United States, the standardization of medical education at MD training schools and DO training schools has been appropriately promoted. showing.Even in Japan, there are differences in the educational content of medical schools and clinical training.Future research is expected to determine which differences are important to patients and which differences are acceptable as diversity.
Paper information:[Annals of Internal Medicine] Comparison of Hospital Outcomes for Patients Treated by Allopathic Versus Osteopathic Hospitalists
