Comprehensive Education
Applicants to Osteopathic medical schools typically hold Bachelor or Masters Degrees which include the prerequisite courses required for entrance, as well as the MCAT examination. Osteopathic medical education requires 4 years of full-time, comprehensive, and complete medical education.
Once graduated and having attained the D.O. degree but prior to being eligible to practice medicine unrestricted, the osteopathic physician must complete a further 2 to 5 years of full-time residency training in the specialty of their choosing. Fields such as: internal medicine and sub-specialties (Gastroenterology, Cardiology, etc.), Surgery and sub-specialties (Plastics, Pediatric, Vascular, etc), orthopedics, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, dermatology, pathology, family medicine, or musculoskeletal medicine (manual therapy osteopathy).
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There are 18 certifying boards with 85 specialties and sub-specialties. Upon completion of residency training, specialty certification examinations are required. Your Canadian osteopathic physician will have typically completed 11 to 13 years of university, doctoral, and specialty training by the time they are ready for licensure and practice in Canada.
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For potential students looking to apply visit the Canadian Osteopathic Medical Student Organization or the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
