DO meaning in Medical ?

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O.) is a medical degree offered by medical schools in the United States. A DO graduate may become licensed as a physician. DOs have full practice rights in all 50 US states. As of 2021, there were more than 168,000 osteopathic physicians and osteopathic medical students in the United States.

DO degrees are offered in the United States at 37 medical schools and as of 2021, more than 27% of all US medical students were DO students. The curricula at osteopathic medical schools are equivalent to those at MD-granting medical schools, which focus the first two years on the biomedical and clinical sciences, then two years on core clinical training in the clinical specialties.

Only US-granted DO and MD programs are listed as medical schools in the World Directory of Medical Schools. Upon completing medical school, a DO graduate may enter an internship or residency training program, which may be followed by fellowship training. DO graduates attend the same graduate medical education programs as their MD counterparts.

One notable difference between DO and MD training is that DOs spend an additional 300–500 hours to study a set of hands-on manipulation of the human musculoskeletal system along with learning conventional Western medicine and surgery like their MD peers.