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American DO and its equivalent British Qualification

Physiotherapist

Critical Thinker
Physiotherapist
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Messages
361
I have an American friend who e-mailed me the other day to say that he is planning to bring his wife and kids over to England sometime and that he plans to stay for about a year.

He is a DO there and mainly works in family practice, however, he also works part-time in the ER to keep his acute skills sharp. He practices conventional medicine.

He has asked me to try and find out what he could work as over here if he came.

Does anyone know how the American and Briish qualifications equate and whether he would be able to register with the GMC here and work as a doctor?
 
Re: Re: American DO and its equivalent British Qualification

Blue Bubble said:
Might help if you could expand on what DO and ER actually stand for ?
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DO= doctor of osteopathy
 
Sorry, DO stands for Doctor of Osteopathy, which is an American degree and ER stands for Emergency Room, which is the same as Casualty/A and E.
 
Come on guys. I am serious here and my buddy sure would like to know what kind of work he can do when he comes over.
 
Geni's link is good. However, realise that it's talking about all healthcare jobs, not just "doctors". In the UK there is no way an osteopath is a doctor, they're just sort of physiotherapy practitioners with a bit of a hint of woo, and most of them practise privately, attached to woo-ish clinics or sports facilities.

In order for a doctor from a foreign country to practise as a doctor here, first they actually have to be a doctor. Now I don't know whether the GMC accepts a US DO degree as a medical qualification. That would be the first thing to ascertain. If they do, then the next thing would be to get registration with the GMC. There are exams you can sit, held in London periodically, and a lot of doctors from Commonwealth contries come here specifically to sit these exams. The problem is, even if you pass, it doesn't guarantee you a job.

For doctors with qualifications from developed first-world countries I suspect there may be a shorter way. I think that someone from the US with an MD who was board-certified in A&E medicine wouldn't have to jump through quite the same hoops as someone with similar qualifications from Lahore. There may well be a simplified registration prodedure. However, the question still arises as to whether the GMC will accept the DO degree as equivalent to an MD.

Your friend really has to enquire of the GMC how he gets registration. If he can, then he can work in this country as a doctor. If he can't, then he can't. He might get some back-rubbing work at a woo clinic, but that's a different story.

Rolfe.
 
Physiotherapist said:
Come on guys. I am serious here and my buddy sure would like to know what kind of work he can do when he comes over.
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This has been discussed at length here before, you might do a search.

An American osteopath is a full fledged medical doctor, with an additional emphasis on nutrition, etc.

In England, they are little more than chiropractors.

There is no comparison between the 2 countires...a night and day difference in what the term means, and the level of respect accorded.

So your friend is likely to be disappointed if they travel to England.
 
crimresearch said:
An American osteopath is a full fledged medical doctor, with an additional emphasis on nutrition, etc.

In England, they are little more than chiropractors.

....

So your friend is likely to be disappointed if they travel to England.
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Well, it depends. I don't know the answer, but the crux of the matter is whether the GMC accepts the first part of that statement, and recognises the DO as a foreign medical degree. If in fact an American DO is as well qualified in medicine as an MD, then it's not impossible that they might recognise that, and ignore the incorporation of the woo "o" word.

On the other hand, they might have decided that the DO degree is inferior, and that they won't recognise it as a medical qualification.

It's all about eligibility to be registered with the GMC. If he is eligible on the basis of a DO degree, then he needs to find out what the procedure is to gain that registration. If he isn't, he will never be able to work as a doctor in this contry without re-qualifying from a proper medical school.

Rolfe.
 
Your friend needs to have a very careful read of the GMC's web site (I've linked to the section on registration).

By my reading of it, the interpretation is favourable. The GMC is using the WHO's list of approved medical schools to determine whether or not a medical degree is kosher, and on the page for the USA (the page I linked to), the DO degree is pretty much given equal recognition with the MD degree.

However, he may still have to sit the PLAB test. There are some exceptions to that though, like already having a job offer, or holding an appropriate specialist qualification in your home country. Again, I recommend reading it all very carefully, then phone (+44 (0)161 923 6602) or email the GMC for further information.

My impression is that anyone who has English as a native language and is practising medicine in a developed country would probably breeze through the PLAB test though, so if he's serious, and I'm right about the DO being a registrable degree, then he just has to identify the hoops then jump through them.

Rolfe.
 
Thanks for digging up that extra information...I was relying on past threads here where it was made clear that British osteopaths aren't considered doctors...I didn't know if there was such a list or if it would be up to some arbitrary judgement.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I will pass this on.

In the States, he is Board Certified in Family Practice and Emergency Medicine.
 
crimresearch said:
Thanks for digging up that extra information...I was relying on past threads here where it was made clear that British osteopaths aren't considered doctors...I didn't know if there was such a list or if it would be up to some arbitrary judgement.
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Yes, that's true, in Britain, osteopaths aren't doctors. However, odd though it is, it seems that in the US osteopaths really are kosher doctors, and this appears to be recognised by the GMC.

If Physio's friend has a board certification he may not even need to sit the PLAB test to get registration. And despite the grim warnings of no guarantee of a job even if you get registration, I suspect he'd have little difficulty in getting temporary work. Having experience in general practice in a developed country and being a native English speaker would be big plus points at an interview, and there is quite a shortage of general practitioners around the country. Someone who was available to undertake limited-tenure locum work to fill in for maternity leave and things like that could find himself quite popular.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
Yes, that's true, in Britain, osteopaths aren't doctors. However, odd though it is, it seems that in the US osteopaths really are kosher doctors, and this appears to be recognised by the GMC.
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They are, but they're still considered somewhat low on the totem pole.

American osteopathy started out every bit as nuts as chiropractic, but the American Osteopathic Association officially abandoned their nutty ideas in 1949. They still talk a bit woo, but they are fully qualified.
 
epepke said:
They are, but they're still considered somewhat low on the totem pole.
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However, I don't think general appreciation of the rankings on that particular totem pole is very widespread in England, and if the guy has GMC registration and general practice experience and speaks good English, most medics this side of the pond aren't going to be terribly aware of what "DO" even stands for.

Oh, and "talking a bit woo" wouldn't necessarily be a handicap at all. We have a bunch of hereditary woos providing out Heads of State, and woo-ness is quite entrenched in a number of areas within the NHS. A friend of mine whpo is a GP said she had to physically throw out a pile of information leaflets for new mothers that was delivered to her practice from and NHS source because "most of it was fine and perfectly sensible, but there was a section near the end that recommended homoeopathy, and I wasn't having that in my practice!.

Rolfe.
 
epepke said:
They are, but they're still considered somewhat low on the totem pole.

American osteopathy started out every bit as nuts as chiropractic, but the American Osteopathic Association officially abandoned their nutty ideas in 1949. They still talk a bit woo, but they are fully qualified.
Click to expand...

Never mind all the business about this specific person's registrability as a real doctor in the UK, could an American comment on whether a DO should be allowed to be managing diabetic patients or giving ante-natal advice. Do they have all the general medical education necessary for that or have they just shared some basic science courses with the medics then spent all their clinical training learning about bones and ligaments? An American dentist, DD, wouldn't come over and work as a doctor because they would have a similarly narrowly directed clinical training and I would not think that a DO would be any more competent at general medicine than a dentist.
 
I think your friend will need a Visa to work in England.

Link

Being allowed to work in England is only permitted by obtaining a work permit from the British employer. This costs him about $3000, and can only be obtained if there are no obvious British workers available to do the job. However, this regulation refers more to manual laborers than executives. There are law firms which specialize in obtaining work permits for employers. It does require producing -- among other things--your actual marriage license (if you are bringing a wife -- who may then seek employment under your permit).
Click to expand...

O.
:)
 
Orangutan said:
I think your friend will need a Visa to work in England.

Link



O.
:)
Click to expand...

But we're importing doctors from 3rd World countries because we don't have enough. so doctors are featured on the special list or professions that allows accelerated processes to apply.
 
As far as I know, he did all the same science courses as those included in the MD program, the only difference being that he had extra training in osteopathic techniques. He did the same med student rotations and also did his internship. I think he did a residency in the ER and became board certificed in emergency medicine, but then swiched to family practice in the end because he had a young family at the time and he didn't want to miss them growing up and family practice allowed him to spend more time with the kids. He decided to stay in family practice as he enjoyed the variety, but then decided to work part time in the ER to keep his acute skills up to scratch.

From what he has told me he does practice proper medicine and I have no reason to doubt that the training is comparable.
 
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