Advertising???

[Platz]

A person on one of the lists asked if the AOA is doing a good job of teaching the public about Osteopathy. I am a pre-med student from Kirksville, MO (where osteopathic medicine is the norm) and am vary passionate about Osteopathy as a career. I get sick of explaining that a DO is not a chiropractor that can prescribe medicine. I think people know about Osteopathy, but don't understand what it really is.

Do you think that the AOA should do something to make Osteopathy better known? I really don't know what they can do. An advertising campaign would look cheesy and look like Osteopathy has to advertise for patients. What is the anser

Any comments on this.

Kyle Platz

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[libuser]

Well, this is tough topic. What to do? I agree with you that if the AOA went out and advertised, it would look cheesy, very cheesy. People would laugh that DO's have to advertise to bring recognition, thus bringing on more stereotypes! It would backfire! I think part of the problem is that we are a minority in the culture of medicine. I don't blame consumers and patients for being skeptical, we are talking about their safety and health. The natural inclination for people to think is that they (MD's and DO's) must be different, because they don't share the same initials. So, the best thing in my view, is to let the public judge us by our actions (and the media). Producing physicians that are exceptional, caring and compassionate, is all that we can keep doing! That is all that matters, that you have a population of patients that trust you! I also think that creating healthcare institutions that are on the cutting edge would also help. Osteopathic communities providing the full-range of care that traditional allopathic hospitals have done for years. The AOA needs to provide leadership in actively choosing areas that would benefit communities by having osteopathic hospitals. Nevertheless, I think that we are never going to change the stereotypes associated with DO's. Never! Once stereotypes stick, they stay, unfortunately. Lastly, you have to also recognize that the AMA and the allopathic community is strong, very strong!! Some have the view that the AMA is the enemy, that we must challenge the AMA. That is never going to happen. The best future for DO's is for the AMA and AOA to work together.

 

[proudtobeDO]

PESSIMISM!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ponyboy]

I don't think that the AOA should really launch an advertising campaign but they should strive towards making DO's more visible and socially "acceptable." I think that the osteopathic community should start publishing data on the effectiveness of OMM and other osteopathic principles in more popular medical journals (instead of just the exclusive AOA journals). If an evidence supported article on the benefits of OMM showed up in the NEJM, I think that it would lend a lot of public credibility to DO's.

In addition, I also think that the AOA should strive to set up a major medical center taht contains both research and patient care that is of really high calibre and comparable to places like Mass Gen, Mayo, Cleveland Clinic, Fred Hutchinson, etc. This would give an identifiable center that people could associate with DOs.

Finally, the AOA should be more liberal with its post-graduate accreditation. If more reseidencies are dual accredited, DO graduates will not necessarily have to "jump ship" to ACGME residencies. This will also increase public awareness of DO's and their abilities.

I think that the AOA and the AMA should also work together, even more closely than they have in the past. DO's will benefit from this tremendously. If they are consistently associated with the AMA and MD's the public will recognize the equality between the two degrees.

 

[Synergy]

What is up with all of your hangups about the DO degree?
You do know that a DO can be a member of the AMA as well as the AOA, don't you?
DOs can be found using the physician finder on the AMA homepage, and the degree is discussed there also.
You do know that a DO can do an ACGME residency if they choose to do so.
A DO passes state board licenses, prescribes medicine, and can do surgery and specialize in anything an MD can.
If you tell the common Joe this, they won't think anything negatively about DOs.
Pre-meds make a much bigger deal about this than most people do.

 

[proudtobeDO]

Your focus is misguided. Don't try convincing others of the value of your degree until you have convinced yourself. You doubt your degree and so will others!!

[This message has been edited by proudtobeDO (edited July 02, 1999).]

 

[Ponyboy]

Synergy, I don't necessarily agree with the generalizations that you have made about the public. For their entire lives, people have been bombarded with "Doogie Houser, MD" and other names that have constantly reinforced the idea that MD = Doctor. Not that many people would be willing to believe that there are other initials, much less, other branches of medicine that have the same qualifications and abilities of an MD. Most people, when they see the letters DO, lump them in with OD's, DC's and other allied health professionals. Do you know how many times I have heard people say that they want to see a "real doctor" when they've learned that they were going to be seen by a DO? Even other allopathic applicants that I have met were wary of DO's and their abilities. And these were intelligent, well-educated people who knew a lot about the medical field. So to say that an average Joe will instantly believe you when you tell him that a DO can do all the things that an MD can, is stretching it. That's why I believe that the AOA should strive to put the DO in public view to a greater extent.


[This message has been edited by Ponyboy (edited July 02, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Ponyboy (edited July 02, 1999).]

 

[Synergy]

Ponyboy, There are also people that won't want to see you if you graduated from a non-prestigious state university. I agree that there is ignorance out there concerning the DO degree, but educating the public (especially yourself) is what has to be done. I got tired of explaining why I chose DO over MD, but I learned that you have to be proud and explain your decision with confidence and pride. This is the problem for some DOs that did not get into an MD school, and used the DO route to become a physician. Sometimes they have more of a hangup about it than the people that matter. Maybe I don't see it as much living in the midwest, but most people I meet either know what a DO is or accept it at face value after an explanation. For those other people, even after explaining what the DO degree is, what else can you do. Some people won't think you're as good, but there are also people that hate MDs. Stand up tall, be proud of your degree, explain it to the ignorant, and get involved with getting the AOA to promote the degree. If you don't want to do that (not directed necessarily at you Ponyboy) then you should NOT get a DO degree. I am happy that I will be a complete physician.

 

[Ponyboy]

Synergy, I agree entirely with you on the fact that the general public needs to be educated about the DO degree. That was the reason behind my list of suggestions as to what the AOA should do to promote the DO degree. (I have no idea what you meant by "yourself especially", I like to think that I know, at least, SOMETHING about Osteopathic medicine) However, I also believe that some people are reluctant to believe the information that they hear about DO's, especially when it comes from a DO. I think that in an earlier thread, you yourself said that the average Joe doesn't think that a medical doctor can have a degree other than an MD. Because most people have a hard time believing what they are told, I think that the AOA and DO's would more easily accomplish their goal of "spreading the news" about DO's through their actions. What better proof of the validity of OMM could you get than in an article in NEJM? What better example of patient care and cutting edge therapies by DO's could you find than in a high-profile Osteopathic medical complex that is comparable to the Mayo clinic? What better proof of the equality of DO's and MD's could you have than DO's and MD's working alongside one another in dual accredited programs and by closer ties between the AOA and the AMA? What I'm saying is that if the AOA and DO's wish to promote the DO degree, they should do so by actions (not words) that will be noticed by the general public.

 

[Platz]

Ponyboy, I believe that your response hit the nail right on the head. The main problem with the public is their ignorance of Osteopathy. By doing some things that you suggested, the public will become more and more informed.

I think another problem is a lot of DO's are not using the philosophies that were instilled or should have been instilled in them in medical school. DO's are different from MD's in general. One main example is OMT. OMT is the basis of the medicine that A T Still discovered. I know that all DO's can't use it in their practice, i.e. surgeons. However, general practice physicians are not using it and are just becoming pill pushers. Drugs are not bad, but manipulation can decrease or even stop the requirement for drugs. By seeing a patient for 5 minutes and prescribing a drug, DO's aren't the holistic doctors that their degree stands for. By spending more time with their patients, using OMT, and explaining how OMT is used to treat that person, people will have a greater understanding of what osteopathic philosophies are and the ignorance of the public will decrease.

Synergy, I don't believe that I am making too big of a deal about the respect that Osteopathy deserves. People have been told about Osteopathy since Still discovered it. The AOA has had to battle to get accreditation in states and in the military. The battling with the AMA is no longer around, however the negative views that the AMA created have trickled down through the years. I think if the AOA did the things that Ponyboy suggested and if DO's used the techniques that make them DO's the negativity against DO's would decrease at a very large rate.

 

[Platz]

I second year student from KCOM just informed me that the AOA is going to do an advertising campaign. He didn't know any specifics on how it was going to be done. I am interesting to see how this turns out.

 

[ND-AZCOM]

My theory on this is that we should send representatives to colleges that traditionally send a lot of students to medical school, especially ones in high concentration D.O. areas. Pre-med students have this innate drive to go to presentations on medical school. They seem to think it's a requirement for acceptance. If the AOA was to send a D.O. rep, and a D.O. friendly M.D. as a panel to answer questions on the similarities and differences in the two philosophies, I think Osteopathy would capture a lot of hearts, especially, and this is my own personally theory, women. I think the D.O. philosophy would be especially attractive to women(my only qualifications for making this statement being that I have 7 sisters

I personally grew up with D.O.s, but my school never mentioned them, so I never thought about it, until I saw a brochure tacked to a bulletin board.

Just some thoughts...
ND-AZCOM

 

[NewDoc]

Libuser and Ponyboy,

Do you guys remember in the movie "Field of Dreams" when the voice said "Build it and they will come"? Your ideas, while noble, correlate closely to the quote.

The reputation and leadership and choosing the right areas of medicine for emphasis are only part of the equation. These will merely uphold the reputation any physician group strives hard to reach.

And it's not just advertising in the Unity campaign, it's Marketing. Advertising is a submodality of marketing. We are 5% of America's physicians seeing 10% of the population if the numbers are accurate. It's going to take a long long time to gain ground on reputation. Remember, allopaths and DOs have more in common than different. And the gap is closing.

Almost everything consumed (services or goods) in America is generated through customer demand. If a customer doesn't know about your product do you expect it to "jump into their shopping cart". No, you don't. The Unity campaign is starting with one of the key elements of advertising/marketing. The customer already has a need (healthcare), you must make them aware of your product (Unity campaign), and finally you try to get them to act (come see you).

Only fad products generate mass publicity on their own. This is done through gimmicks and natural appeal (Sugar Busters diet e.g.). The rest have to market and advertise, spending ungodly amounts of money in order for their product to survive in competitive markets. Remember Lever 2000 soap? How many frickin' ads did they have for that one when it came out? About a jillion and it's stayed on the shelves at the store.

I realize that healthcare is more complex than the grocery store shelves, but business is business and healthcare is a business.

I think the goals of the Unity campaign are reasonable and we must support it strongly. If you are a student now, you and the public will benefit in the future.

By the way, I am a DO student and I have a solid background and education in marketing and advertising.