Personal Narrative: My Experience With Osteopathic Medicine

When deciding on a career, I did not know straightaway I would pursue physical therapy. But I did know that I wanted to do something within the health science field, even at an early age. Every person in my family was involved in health care one way or another; some uncles are doctors, a few aunts are nurses, a couple cousins are surgeons, and my own mother is a physical therapist, so a career in healthcare was all I knew growing up. For a good majority of my life, I seriously thought about becoming a doctor, but that surely changed over time.

I have always had my mind set on becoming a physician. As I sat in my academic advisor’s office during my second year of college, I came to know that there were two types of medical schools, osteopathic and allopathic. I was interested to know the difference, so I started my research. I gathered information from the AACOM and AOA websites, and learned the history, philosophy, and educational curriculum of osteopathic medicine. I desired to learn more, so I made a visit to the osteopathic school near my college. Along with four other students, I sat through an interesting lecture about various bone disorders, witnessed a physician practice OMT, and met with various instructors. The connections I made that day led me to the opportunity to shadow an osteopathic physician who has truly become a role model to me. I learned

My desire to be an osteopathic physician came after attending an OMM session during my gap years as a research fellow at the NIH. This experience contributed to my interest in osteopathic medicine, as I was intrigued by the musculoskeletal manipulation techniques, and deeply appreciated the hands-on, holistic approach to patient care. I feel strongly that training as an osteopath, will prove invaluable in my career as I work deliver quality treatment to underserved communities.

It was around 8:15 A.M. and I was on my way to Midwest Orthopedic in Pekin for my foot to get X-Rays because I had a boot on and the wanted me to have a check up. I was in the car with my mom and we just finished getting Starbucks and were driving on the way there. Once we got there we had to fill in some paperwork and wait for the nurse to come and get me.

As I pulled into the rehabilitation center’s parking lot Monday afternoon I couldn't wait to get inside and feel the breeze of the air conditioning as I escaped from the 95 degree blazing hot weather outside. I was very anxious because I wasn’t sure how this interview would go, let alone if it would happen. I wasn't certain the physical therapist I was going to interview would have time to fit me in. I was up the night before trying to figure out what I wanted to learn from this interview and what kind of questions I would ask. I decided to focus my questions towards the physical therapist I have been shadowing to get to know more about him and his experiences with the job. So far through out my research I have been focusing on the physical therapists and their relationships with patients. I wanted my readers learn more about the person who is caring for these patients and what goes on that patients do not see.

In the beginning, physical therapy made my recovery tedious. I was only interested because it allowed me the opportunity to learn numerous types of injuries from a variety of individuals. For example, I met a girl who broke her arm from falling off the monkey bars. Or the boy who had a complete elbow dislocation, while playing basketball. Although I was entertained by these interesting stories, they made me feel guilty. I was congratulating strangers for their quick recovery, while my own felt treacherous. Therefore, I grew frustrated and irritated with physical therapy and I denied any positivity in my recovery. I became envious until my envy evolved into a depression because I was incapable of physical activities. Therefore, I was forced

A large influencing factor that inspired me to become an osteopathic physician began when I started working as an emergency room scribe. Prior to the job I had heard about osteopathic medicine and noticed the DO label on a few physicians coats, but didn't know what it meant. During my first scribe shift with a DO I observed how different his practice was from the MD doctors I had previously worked with. The osteopathic physician was more hands on with his patients and it seemed that many patients appreciated his hands on care. After learning more about the DO profession, I asked a few of the DO’s what the difference to an MD meant to them.

I had such a great day at clinical yesterday. I was finally able to see a vaginal delivery and that entire process. When I arrived in the morning, the mom had just received Cytotec, to help induce labor and ripen her cervix. She was forty-one weeks and zero. Around ten thirty in the morning, she asked for her epidural to manage her pain. We bolused her with fifteen hundred milliliters of lactated ringers to prevent hypotension. Shane was the certified registered nurse anesthesiologist (CRNA) who administered the epidural. It was very cool watching him administer all the needed pain relief medication before he administered the epidural to make sure that it would be placed in the epidural space in the spine. Then administered a small test dose, waited till a few blood pressures were taken, then administered the remaining about through an epidural pump. After the epidural was administered, I was able to administer her foley catheter. I was so happy that I was finally able to place one. I learned a few tricks from Maura (my nurse) as well. She taught me that it was easier to take the top off of the lubricant syringe and to place the tip of the foley inside of the syringe, that way it will not wiggle around and become unsterile. She also taught me to grab from the bottom of the labia and pull up, that way it ensures that I will have a clear entrance to

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

Hello Mr. Williams, my name is Paris Turner and I’ll be your osteopathic physician today. Some background information about me is that I went through four years of basic medical education and also a specific training on osteopathic manipulative treatment which was very hands on but overall you’ll stay in school for 11 to 18 years, in my case I stayed in school for 11 years at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, now it does seem like a long time to be in school, which it is but in the end it pays off because my salary is about 140,000 to 300,000 and if you didn’t know this information it is no surprise because not many people are familiar with what an osteopathic physician is able do but it’s just an off branch career

It was not until the last quarter of my fourth year at college that osteopathic medicine appeared on my radar again. At this time, I began to understand what it truly was. Volunteering at St. John’s gave me the opportunity to gain further exposure in the medical field. During my time at St. John’s, something always seemed missing while I observed allopathic physicians. The limited number of osteopaths at St. John’s did not make exposure to their style of medicine easy. However, with the help of Fr. Calin, the Spiritual Care manager, I was able to make contact with an osteopathic physician, Dr. Wolfsohn.

It hurt to walk as I stepped into physical therapy on that spring morning. I was coming into here for my second round of physical therap. I thought I had healed up the first thirteen weeks I had gone to physical therapy a year earlier, but three years later, I had still felt pain. I still can recite every detail on how I got here. I was at one of my gymnastics meets way back in 2012.

Through the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Mentor Program I was able to meet Dr. Phuc Huynh, DO, an osteopathic physician specializing in family medicine, who was excited to share his profession with me. Through Dr. Huynh’s mentorship, I was able to gain a higher understanding of the osteopathic profession and witness how it will allow me to practice compassionate, patient-centered medicine.

Since I was five, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor of some sort, so I started to prepare myself for medical school. I volunteered at one of the local hospitals, joined clubs that were specific to the medical field, shadowed different professions in the medical field yet, in all those experiences, I had never heard of osteopathy. I had no clue that osteopathic medicine existed until I saw an osteopathic school at a college fair. The admissions women and I had a conversation about medical school, and she suggested an osteopathic route instead. She gave me a pamphlet and when I went home, I tossed it out. To be honest, I thought that osteopathy was for people who could not get accepted into medical school. Osteopathy lingered around in the

My passion for the world of Prosthetics and Orthotics was sparked whilst serving with the Military in Afghanistan, where I was witness to the varying array of catastrophic injuries, caused by the conflict. Not only amongst my fellow Service Personnel, but also amongst the local populace.